Dutiful Eyes
by Stormlock
Summary: AU. What would have happened to the Hyuuga if Hizashi hadn't held his grudge against the main branch? Story mostly around Hinata, Neji and Naruto.
1. Chapter 1

**Dutiful Eyes**

By Stormlock

----------------------------------

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto. (Insert a witty joke here if you like.)

**AN/Summary:** My first fic. AU based on the concept of Hyuuga Hizashi not hating the main house. First two chapters will be a bit of a prologue, and will be somewhat angsty as a result. If thats a turn off you can skip to the third chapter once it's up. Wrote the first two chapters before getting any feedback, going to wait on writing the rest until I get some so I know where I'm at.

----------------------------------

"They have demanded your corpse Hiashi, upon threat of war." Sarutobi's eyes were distant as he spoke, reflecting on the weakness of his country that had allowed this to happen. Where had he gone wrong?

Hiashi's eyes blazed. Just one hour ago they had tried to kidnap his daughter, and now they dare demand compensation for the death of their spy?

Hizashi let his thoughts spill out in angry broken speech. "Can they really be serious? It's obvious what occurred! They have no right to demand anything! Do we really want 'allies' like that?"

Of course, they didn't know if the Cloud country really expected their demand to be met, or if their threat of war was purely a bluff. Byakugan users were spying on their 'conversations', but instead of speaking, they were using some sort of unfamiliar hand signal system. Attempts to decipher it were being made, but it was unlikely they would learn the system in time for it to matter.

Hiashi calmed down and thought about the rest of his clan. The rest of his village. He thought about his precious daughter. There was only one option.

"You know the situation Hizashi. Not only is our village among the weakest currently, it is perceived as the weakest outright. If we let our village slide into a war now, not only will we be further crippled, but our exact strength will be revealed. It could mean the end of Konoha. We must ally ourselves with as many countries as possible and bide our time until our strength is restored . . . we can't afford to pick a fight while we're still limping from the Kyuubi's rampage. If this is the only way, then we'll have to give them what they want."

Hizashi's face screwed up in frustration at his brother's emotionless explanation of the situation. "You've always been too noble for your own good . But you seem to have forgotten what they _really_ want . . . This whole thing is obviously a setup to get their hands on some of the famed Hyuuga eyes; first Hinata's and now yours. So we can't give them your corpse anyways. Give them mine instead. They won't know the difference, and the seal will protect our clan's secrets."

Sarutobi nodded gravely at this.

"He's right Hiashi. Without the Hyuuga clan Konoha will be crippled anyway. We can't give away your clan's secrets."

Hiashi fumed again. He had probably displayed more anger this night than he had in the past 20 years. "That is unacceptable Hokage-sama. I refuse to let Hizashi be sacrificed in my stead. I won't play god with the lives of my family!"

"That's not your decision to make, brother. We must do what is best for Konoha and the Hyuuga clan. Sarutobi will surely agree with me." Hizashi looked resolved, without a hint of uncertainty. It was a moment of unusual calm for him, as he awaited his death.

Hiashi turned to his brother with a solemn look in his eyes. Hizashi recognized it as the same look he gave people who ended up within his Hakke before raining 64 strikes down upon them to seal their fate. "Sarutobi knows every jutsu in the village. He can perform 'that' seal on me. Besides, things might get complicated down the road if Hyuuga Hiashi is heard to be still alive leading his clan."

Hizashi's eyes lost their calm as he sensed his reasoning dissolving. "I won't just let you die! The clan needs a leader Hiashi!"

"Then take care of Hinata for me. See that she makes the clan proud."

"Hiashi!"

Hizashi began to lift his hand to grab his brother, but before his hand got above his waist he fell to his knees, eyes locked on Hiashi's right hand, bent into a seal he'd nearly forgotten about until his son had been branded that morning.

"Make her worthy of a Hyuuga's pride Hizashi."

"Damn it Hiashi . . . " and with that, Hizashi slipped out of consciousness.

Sarutobi sat with the same distant look in his eyes, this time wondering how well he had really known the Hyuuga Clan all along.

"What makes you think I won't simply render you unconscious and render your decision as irrelevant as Hizashi's?"

"These eyes see more than just chakra Hokage-sama. I can see you wouldn't really force me to outlive my little brother."

Sarutobi could only nod before beginning the Hyuuga's cursed seal jutsu.

-------------------------------------------------------

The funeral for Hyuuga Hiashi was held two days later. A hidden village was always accustomed to death, so preparations for a funeral could be made very quickly and efficiently. The exact details of Hiashi's death were kept secret of course. Only Hizashi, Sarutobi, and the involved Cloud-nins knew the truth. Everyone else in Konoha was simply told that Hiashi had died a noble death to protect them. Few people bothered inquiring further. Secrets were just a part of life in a hidden village. In this case, they were a part of death too.

Hinata stood next to Hizashi and Neji near the front of the gathering, her eyes fixed on the ornate gold and ivory coffin her father rested in. Hyuuga custom was that the body itself remained hidden. Hinata's three year old mind was spinning. How could her father really be gone? She had seen him during her birthday, just two days ago. He couldn't really be dead. He couldn't really be sealed in that cold box forever. She looked up at Hizashi and imagined him as her father instead. She imagined her father's peaceful eyes in place of Hizashi's, his confidence overwriting Hizashi's sorrow. She pretended the seal wasn't there. She so desperately wanted to see her father again. Just one more time.

"Hizashi-san . . . "

Hizashi turned toward Hiashi's heir and legacy, impressed by her calm features. She had completely broken down yesterday when she was told that her father was dead of course. But she had brought her emotions under control with eerie speed. He supposed it was a trait of Hiashi's. Odd that he didn't possess that trait, although he was Hiashi's twin. Since yesterday Hinata hadn't cried, hadn't even been frowning. She resembled an ice sculpture.

"What is it Hinata-sama?"

"I need to see him. I want to see my father one last time."

Hizashi sighed. If they actually had Hiashi's body, he probably would have let her see it after the funeral, when nobody was around. He never cared much for traditions. He didn't despise them either. He could understand the premise, and it wasn't ridiculous to him. It had its purposes and served the clan well. But as far as he was concerned, traditions only needed to be upheld when they were noticed. Breaking rules when nobody would notice or be affected wasn't a crime. But he didn't have Hiashi's body anyway, so he decided to hide behind those rules. Hinata was far too young to know the truth.

"I'm sorry Hinata-sama, it's tradition that nobody see a Hyuuga after they die. Not even we can break that rule."

"But . . . just once. Just for a moment. I have to see him."

"I'm sorry Hinata-sama. You can never see him again."

Hizashi knelt down and hugged his niece. She even felt like a block of ice. He'd sworn yesterday over Hiashi's body that he'd fulfill his last wish before it had been given over to the Cloud. It was the least he could do. Hiashi had given his life up for Konoha. Given up any chance to see his daughter again. Hizashi would spend his life fulfilling Hiashi's wish in return.

"I have to."

Hizashi leaned back and rested his hands on her shoulders. He saw an odd look in her eyes. A determination seemingly out of place on a three year old child.

"I can't do anything Hinata. . . ."

"Then, I will."

Hizashi felt her steel under his hands as she turned away from him toward the coffin. The hairs on the back of his neck raised as he felt her nearly humming in her black silk kimono, and his remaining hand flinched away.

"Hinata-sama . . ."

Disbelief coloured Hizashi's features as he saw her bring her hands up to her face in the familiar Hyuuga way. Suddenly Hinata's eyes lit up with the faint white glow of a technique she wouldn't use again for another 4 years.

"I _must_ see- Byakugan!"

Everyone gathered at the funeral had been politely ignoring the child's technically forbidden conversation. She was after all, only three years old, and her father had died very suddenly. Additionally, she was the Hyuuga heir. It would be unseemly to upset her further. However, hearing her shout out that word and her obvious intention caused the whole gathering to break out in murmurs and gasps. First of all because it was forbidden to see the body of a dead Hyuuga, and second because she was only three years old; it was utterly impossible for her to perform the required technique to use her eyes that way.

"Its... empty! He's not even inside! Where is my father Hizashi?!"

When she shouted that, most of the gathering calmed down somewhat. Obviously she had simply failed the technique. Which also meant that she hadn't actually seen Hiashi's body, and therefore wasn't summoning any curses or ill luck or whatever they had thought she would have brought down on them by seeing his body.

Hizashi, of course, knew the truth of both of these facts, and if his face had been coloured by disbelief when she had begun the technique, he was now in absolute shock.

_She really used that technique at merely three years of age? The Hyuuga are said to be the holders of the leaf's most powerful taijutsu style, but we've never had such a prodigy as this. Even the Uchiha's Itachi prodigy didn't manifest his eyes until he was six. Hiashi, your daughter won't just make the Hyuuga proud, she's going to leave the world in awe._

Hizashi was about to ask Hinata to come with him so he could explain (Which he realized he would have to do much sooner than he had planned) to her why her father wasn't in the coffin, but instead he had to catch her, because the young Hyuuga heir had just fainted.

_No surprise there, she must have sapped nearly all her chakra to pull something like THAT off._

Hizashi smiled when he looked down at her face. It was peaceful once more.

-------------------------------------------------------

Hinata didn't wake up until three days later. Sunlight bathed her room, casting small rainbows across the floor through the assorted prisms she kept in her window. As she awoke, she realized that her eyes hurt. She lifted her hands to rub them and felt that the edges were swollen. She glanced at the mirror across the room and saw her reflection in it. Her hair was a mess and her eyes were surrounded by bruising. _What happened to me?_

Memories came flooding back to her. Her birthday. The kidnaping. Her father. The funeral. The coffin. It all hit her at once

"No! Father!"

Neji bolted into the room from across the hallway, his legs in an aggressive stance, eyes darting about the room looking for an intruder. Hinata had screamed those exact words the night she was kidnaped, but by the time he had reached her Hiashi had already silently dispatched her attacker. It then occurred to Neji that Hinata was _awake_.

"Hinata-sama, you're awake! Are you alright?"

Hinata partially regained her composure and looked over at Neji.

"Y-yes. I'm alright. I'm sorry for screaming like that."

Hizashi was next into the room.

"Are you both alright? Is everything ok Hinata-sama?"

Both of the children turned to Hizashi and nodded firmly. Hinata apologized again, this time somewhat more fervently, realizing how much she had just frightened both of them.

"Neji, go to town and get some fresh herbs for Hinata-sama. The first batch has dried up somewhat."

Neji nodded and quickly left the room, closing the door behind him. He realized that normally a servant would be sent for such a task, so obviously his father wanted to speak to Hinata alone for some reason..Of course, that didn't mean he didn't still need to go and get the herbs, so he got ready and left the compound to perform his chore.

Hizashi stepped outside her room for a moment, explaining to the approaching guard that everything was fine, and sending for a servant to bring some food and water for Hinata before stepping back inside and closing the door.

"You can have something to eat and drink in a minute Hinata-sama, but before anything else, I want to apologize to you. I was going to wait until you were six before explaining this, but since you already found out yourself, I'll have to tell you what happened to your father now."

Hinata studied Hizashi's features, hoping for some sign of good news, seeing none.

"Is my father really dead?"

"Yes."

Hinata fought to control her voice. The reality of her father's demise was finally settling on her, absolute in it's truth. She felt cold.

"But, then why was the coffin empty?"

"We weren't able to keep his body. It was taken by the country of Cloud."

"What? Why? Why would they steal father's body?"

"They didn't steal it. We gave it to them. They demanded that Hiashi die and his body be given to them as part of the peace treaty."

Hiashi decided not to mention the fact that they had made that demand as compensation for the shinobi Hiashi had killed. That part was pretty much a lie anyway; they just wanted the Hyuuga secrets.

Hinata's head was spinning. Her father hadn't even died fighting? He had been _sacrificed_?

"The Hokage had father killed for that reason? I don't understand. Why father? Why would the Hokage agree to such a thing?"

"First of all, the Hokage didn't demand it of your father. We had planned to use my body instead. As Hiashi's twin and a branch member, it was my responsibility to take his place in such a situation. However, Hiashi refused to let me die in his place. He said he couldn't sacrifice me to just to save himself. I tried to stop him, but I wasn't strong enough."

"As for why the Hokage agreed to the terms in the first place, all three of us agreed that we couldn't ignore them. Fire country is in a very fragile political situation right now, and if a war had broken out, Konoha could very well be annihilated. Your father was willing to die to avoid that war, to protect you and everyone else in Konoha. What was said at the funeral was no lie; your father died for a very noble cause. We all owe our lives to him."

"Hizashi-san. . . what were my father's last words?"

Hinata closed her eyes and remembered her father. If she couldn't see him one last time, she could at least hear him in her mind."

Hiashi's twin realized why she had asked, and did his best to be at peace, for just that one moment.

"He asked me to raise you to protect the us in his place. He said 'Make her worthy of a Hyuuga's pride Hizashi.'".

Tears welled up in Hinata's eyes, but her voice held true.

"I will be father. I swear I'll make you proud. I'll make everyone proud of your daughter. And I'll protect Konoha to my last breath."

As Hizashi looked down at Hinata's fierce eyes, he thought to himself that she was already worthy of anyone's pride. He wasn't going to let anything change that. No matter what, he'd fulfill the wish of his brother that had died for him and for everyone he cared about.


	2. Chapter 2

**Dutiful Eyes**

By Stormlock

----------------------------------

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto. (Insert a witty joke here if you like.)

----------------------------------

After eating and drinking some tea prepared with the herbs Neji had purchased, Hinata had almost immediately fallen asleep once more. She awoke later that evening to the ministrations of a nurse checking up on her eyes. Since Hinata was awake, the nurse figured that it would be as good a time as any to give her a lecture about her eyes. Hinata went red as the nurse went along, explaining how dangerous it was for a child to attempt to use the Byakugan. Without proper control it was entirely possible to permanently damage or even blind oneself. Hinata had known the basics of this, that she really shouldn't have done what she did, but since the nurse was also telling her more advanced things about how the Byakugan worked from a medical standpoint, she actually didn't mind the lecture. She also learned some simple techniques to help her recover faster after she demonstrated her control for the nurse. After the nurse did some more advanced techniques herself to alleviate the pain, she was ready to leave.

"I'll see you tomorrow Hinata-chan."

The nurse hadn't dropped her title until then. Hinata wasn't really offended, but while she was asleep she had a rather disturbing dream about losing her position as heir and being forgotten. It suddenly occurred to her that she didn't know what responsibilities she might have or who might want to take advantage of her now that she was technically head of the clan.

"Don't forget my title Hanako-san. You could get in trouble."

Although Hinata had said it in a kindly way, this time it was the nurse's turn to turn red and be embarrassed. She quickly bowed and left the room.

Hinata decided she needed to speak with Hizashi about her new position. After washing up and putting on some less comfortable, more dignified clothing, she left to track down Hizashi. She was eventually directed to one of the sparring rooms, where she found Neji practicing his form while his father sat with a stack of paperwork.

"Good morning Hizashi-san, Neji-kun. Is it alright if I watch for while?"

Neji bowed and Hizashi nodded his head before answering.

"Of course Hinata-sama. Stay as long as you'd like."

She watched Neji train while his father did paperwork, occasionally offering advice and answering questions for his son. After Neji finished his set of exercises, Hinata realized he was probably two or three years ahead of her in his taijutsu training. She'd have to see about practicing with him later; most other children were either behind her, or too old and distant to be willing to honestly spar with the heir of the clan. She mentally corrected herself. _I'm the head of the clan now._

"Hizashi-san, I wish to speak to you about my new position."

Hizashi looked up from his paperwork, once again surprised at her initiative. There were a lot of three year olds that didn't even remember the more respectful honorifics, and this one wanted to know about how to rule a household.

"Neji-kun, I think that's enough practice for this morning, maybe you should go and-"

Hinata recognized Neji being sent off for her privacy once more and interrupted.

"Hizashi-san, I don't mind if Neji-san listens. In fact, it would probably be helpful if I had him to talk to about things. I can't always be interrupting you, I'm sure you're very busy.

Hizashi realized that he would, in fact, be very busy handling the paperwork that was normally his brother's job, especially the extra paperwork involved with the transfer of responsibilities. It would be cruel to leave Hinata to fend for herself completely, she obviously couldn't discuss such things with her peers, being only three years old. He at least trusted Neji, he was very responsible. He also realized Hinata probably would want someone to talk to about her father. He knew Neji could keep the secret, so he might as well let him know too.

"I suppose you are right. In that case, Neji-kun, come sit with us. Hinata-sama, with your permission, I would also like to tell Neji-kun about what happened to your father."

That caught Hinata off guard, surprise registering on her face for a moment before returning to its usual portrait of serenity.

"Y-yes Hizashi-san. I'd appreciate that."

Hizashi gave Neji much the same explanation as he had given Hinata, but this time emphasizing how much he and Neji were indebted to Hiashi. Hinata found herself blushing at the praise of her father and how much Hizashi felt he owed her because of him. Of course, she couldn't really say she didn't deserve such treatment without dishonoring her father, so she kept quiet. When he finished, she realized Neji saw her a bit differently, and seemed to have a sense of purpose.

"I promise to serve her well father."

Hizashi merely nodded at this, trusting his son's moral sensibility.

"Now I'm sure both of you already understand this, but it bears mention nonetheless; you two are the only ones I've told this information to. It is to be a carefully guarded secret, so you are forbidden by the Hokage himself from discussing this matter with anyone who doesn't know. Those being simply us three and the Hokage. You must promise me to never to reveal this secret."

Neji and Hinata looked at each other for a moment before turning to Hizashi and answering together.

"We promise."

Hizashi took a deep breath and did his best imitation of a teacher giving a lecture. He really wasn't the lecturing type. "Good. Now with that taken care of, I can begin to explain Hinata-sama's position. Obviously this is an unusual situation, normally an heir has already been trained for years in advance for their responsibilities and the new allocation of duties has been decided beforehand. However, there are rules in place for circumstances like this. Since this situation is sudden and Hinata-sama is too young to properly lead the clan yet, a 'Speaker' must be elected to manage affairs on her behalf until she is seventeen years of age. There is currently some debate as to who it should be. I'm one of the candidates and the acting Speaker at the moment due to my close relation to Hiashi, however a permanent one is to be selected tomorrow and I may very well be replaced. The decision is left to the council, and they are of varied opinions about Hiashi's goals and mine, so it is very difficult to know who they might choose. I'm most worried that they might decide on elder Hiamaru. He is a good friend with many of the council members but I wouldn't trust him to lead the clan at all. He is very easily manipulated and could easily make conflicting decisions on behalf of vocal parties and leave the clan in disarray. However, I have little say in the matter." Hizashi realized his was going off on a probably biased tangent and caught himself.

"What about me?"

Hizashi's brow furrowed for a moment. He thought he had done a good job of explaining. "What do you mean Hinata-sama?"

"I want you to be Speaker on my behalf. I trust you to act on mine and my fathers best interests."

Hizashi was a little taken aback again. She wanted to personally influence the decision? He respected her of course, but he doubted even the heir would have much if any clout with the council at the age of three.

"I appreciate the support Hinata-sama, but it's a decision left to the council. I'll be sure to explain to them how you feel."

Hinata was beginning to realize that a three year old child in fact, had essentially no responsibilities whatsoever. Any influence she had would simply be based on the fact that she would eventually be the leader of the clan. Until then she had no direct power. Which meant that someone else must have power over her. She must have a new guardian now that her father was gone.

"Hizashi-san, who is to be my guardian?"

Hizashi flinched at this. He wanted to be Hinata's guardian. Needed to really, if he was to do his best in fulfilling his oath to Hiashi. He couldn't trust her raising to anyone else. But of course, this matter was also steeped in political meaning. He had a little more clout when it came to this, but not much.

"That is to be decided primarily by the Speaker after he is elected."

While Hinata kept her composure, Neji bristled at this and decided he had to say his piece.

"That is grossly unfair. Hinata-sama should have a say in the matter. She shouldn't be shuffled off onto a bureaucrat like some trophy!"

Hinata went red again seeing Neji so angry on her behalf. He had always been nice to her, but since her father had died he had been behaving like an older brother for her, which she appreciated deeply.

"I agree Neji-kun, but again, I have little say in the matter. Since it is a much more personal matter Hinata-sama's wishes will be considered, and I can speak on her behalf as her father's closest relative, but ultimately neither of us can make the official decision, or even veto it. Hinata-sama; who do you _want_ to be your guardian?"

"You of course Hizashi-san. My father clearly had a great deal of trust in you, and I've never seen anything to make me believe it was misplaced. Umm, assuming you don't mind. . . I suppose you might be too busy, and you already have Neji-san so I would understand if-"

Hizashi cut her off after she started to turn red again.

"Don't be absurd. Of course I want to take care of you. I wouldn't have sworn to Hiashi I'd raise you if I hadn't meant it."

"That settles it then. I must see to it that you become Speaker."

With that she left the room. Hizashi was too startled by the look in her eyes to say anything or to follow her. It was the same look he had last seen on Hiashi's face before he fell unconscious. The look of absolute confidence without a hint of fear. He wondered what the fate of whatever poor soul she was going to fix that gaze upon next would be.

-------------------------------------------------------

Hinata knew exactly what she had to do in order to have Hizashi elected as Speaker. She just wasn't sure how difficult it would be. After asking one of the older (And upon hearing the question, extremely puzzled) family members when exactly tomorrow the Speaker election meeting would be held and eating a light supper, she headed back to her room to think.

She would have about 24 hours before the council was held. She would have to speak to them before the decision was made. She decided that the sooner the better given what her reasoning would be. She wanted them to have plenty of time to ponder her words. She decided to approach them at lunch tomorrow. That gave her only the rest of the night and next morning to prepare.

First, she picked out what she would wear. Being the heir, her closet was filled with formal wear for every occasion, however, most of it was crafted with the intention of making her cute, for showing her off as the adorable daughter of the clan leader (Most of it was also didn't fit her any more, since she was only three and the clothing was generally designed to be as perfectly fitted as possible). That obviously wouldn't do. She needed to intimidate them. She remembered an outfit she had worn recently when she went with her father to visit an ANBU squad about something three weeks ago. It was a stylized dark kimono with a number of interesting modifications that made it resemble a shinobi outfit. It was actually fairly comfortable as well, which she realized was also important. It wouldn't do to look constricted and uncomfortable in front of the council. They'd no doubt jump on her at the first hint of weakness. As an extra touch she decided to wear the same black earrings she had worn at her father's funeral. At the time she had been too numb to object, but she always thought it was absurd when she was forced to wear earrings 'so she could look all grown up'. Now she was thankful for the option to look a bit more mature. And if any of them remembered her wearing them at the funeral (and there was a good chance they would with the scene she had made) reminding them of that day and who exactly she was the daughter of would give her an extra edge.

She needed every edge she could get. Tomorrow's events would impact the rest of her life and the entire clan very heavily. She had to go all out.

After dressing herself in the kimono (another bonus of its design, she'd be able to surprise everyone with it without having to be helped to dress in it) she looked at herself in the mirror. Her eyes reminded her of her father. She thought of the different ways he talked to people. Sometimes he was simply friendly with them. But usually he had a very reserved, calm look. Like he wasn't really a part of the conversation and it wasn't really him that was ordering people and making decisions. As though he were just relaying the facts of reality. But, on rare occasions, usually when someone was being particularly stubborn, his voice became even more detached, but his eyes changed completely. Instead of being disinterested and cool, they had a particular focus, like he was watching something, waiting to react to something he knew would happen..It had always reminded her of a cat just before it pounced.

As she thought about what she was going to do tomorrow and how she couldn't allow herself to fail, she realized her eyes had that same look to them in the mirror. Suddenly she felt she understood her father's eyes completely.

Next she decided to practice speaking. She changed back to her former attire and left the house to a small, mostly unused training area towards the back of the compound. It was a small soundproof room meant for training one's hearing, or remaining silent. A tiny bell rang when she opened the door; someone had forgotten to put it back. It was simply hanging off the side of the sliding door, so she detached it and put it back in the cabinet with the rest of the equipment.

She began practicing what she would say to the council, mentally editing her speech as well when she noticed things about it that she wanted to change. The room had excellent acoustics, since the entire point was to amplify and make noticeable any sounds the trainee accidently made while attempting to be silent, as well as make confusing the source of any one particular sound if a dozen bells were ringing at once. It suited her purpose perfectly, and before long, she felt she was matching the fearless, confident tone her father was so well known for. She stopped herself before practicing too much; she didn't want to make her voice raspy for tomorrow. With that done, she left the small room and found Neji, and asked him to help her with her taijutsu. She hadn't been practicing much lately, having to attend far too many formal occasions..Since she primarily wanted to practice her forms and balance to help her appearance tomorrow rather than spar Neji didn't have to worry about hurting at all, so he dove right in. After a couple hours she felt markedly refreshed in her training and had even learned a few new things. She thanked him and headed back to her room to meditate for an hour and performed the minor healing technique for her eyes she had learned that morning before going to sleep, which was free of any unsettling dreams.

-------------------------------------------------------

When Hinata awoke the next morning she checked the time and realized she had overslept somewhat..That was fine though, since she felt well prepared anyways. When she looked in the mirror she was happy to see the bruising was now almost completely gone, leaving only a minor shadow around her eyes. She would have to thank Hanako the next time she saw her; she hadn't expected to recover so quickly. After performing some exercises to help her wake up and eating breakfast, Hinata headed back to the sound training room and practiced speaking some more. Confident that she had memorized not only what and how she was going to say when she spoke to the council, but a number of replies to things they might say to her, she returned to her room and meditated until it was time to get ready.

She pulled out the outfit she had selected the previous night and put it on, including the earrings, and checked herself in the mirror one last time.

"Father, I won't fail you. I'll make sure our clan is always 'in the sun'."

She reached the room she knew the council would be eating in just before the food would be brought out, as she had known she would. The Hyuuga kept very strict schedules about such things. The only people eating there were the council. Normally Hiashi and Hizashi ate with them as well so that they could all discuss their duties together, but Hizashi was still swamped with paperwork, and so couldn't be there.

The council looked very surprised to see her there, which wasn't surprising. Hinata never ate lunch with them, since it was mostly political and managerial discussion that didn't concern her, and the food they ate didn't appeal to her much either. Fortunately, they were all sitting on the ground eating on a low table, so all 12 council members could see her very clearly. One of the council members finally wiped the dumb look off of his face and broke the silence.

"Good morning, Hinata-sama. What brings you to lunch today?"

"I'm here to talk to you about the election of the Speaker tonight. You are going to elect Hyuuga Hizashi. He is the only one whom I trust to work in the best interests of my father and the Hyuuga clan."

The council members once again had dumb looks on their faces, but this time one of the more arrogant members recovered more quickly.

"Hinata-sama, with all due respect it is our decision and not yours as to who will be the Speaker. I don't know what Hizashi told you but-"

Hinata cut him off before he could finish, just as she had practiced. Her emotionless voice chilled the council.

"Council member Hidara, you would do well to remember that although I am not yet of age to rule the household personally, one day I will be. Until that point in time, I expect the clan to be well cared for in my stead. Hizashi is the only person qualified for that task."

"I'm not sure you-"

Here came the hard part, Hinata had never had to bluff anyone before. If Hinata had seen herself in the mirror for what she said next she would have been frightened herself. Even her father's eyes had rarely had such obvious predatory confidence in them. She cut this reply off even more effectively than she had the last.

"Additionally, although it may be fourteen years before I am designated the official head of the clan, I can assure you it won't take me anywhere near that long to learn from the Hokage the technique to activate your seals that is my birthright. Especially if I find the clan to be endangered by poor leadership. I will not allow my father's sacrifice for our clan to be in vain. I suggest considering my advice _very_ carefully council members."

With that, Hinata spun about and left them in stunned silence as she headed back to her room to utterly collapse. The servants later noted that the council had eaten very little of their lunch that day.

-------------------------------

**AN:** And that's the end of the prologue. Waiting on feedback to continue. Therefore, please review, etc.


	3. Chapter 3

**Dutiful Eyes**

By Stormlock

----------------------------------

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto. (Insert a witty joke here if you like.)

----------------------------------

**AN/To my reviewers:** This is where the real story starts, just before the genin teams form. I was originally planning to wait for a few more reviews before writing this but I really do enjoy writing this so I couldn't resist going ahead. Thanks to those who did review already though. I mostly wanted to know if I was doing anything major wrong so I would know before I was 5 chapters into the story already, but the reviews all seem pretty positive so I'm not too worried. I'm going to stop doing the honorifics on everyone's names (except for -sama, since that denotes a rather important level of respect) because they set off my spell checker and make it rather annoying trying to spell check when every single name inside dialogue is checked.

As far as why Hinata is so mature for a 3 year old in the prologue, her speech is mature because that is how everyone talks at all of the ceremonies and such she gets dragged along to. I figure she probably spends ten times as much time listening to people talk as a normal child her age would, so she should be able to speak quite well. As for her actions; I chalk it up to her desperate situation with her father being dead. I figure that she would have to either take action or fall into an angsty depression, so I chose the former. Obviously, this is going to have a major impact on her and Neji's character, since that's kind of the entire point of the fic. But I writing the fic would be better for explaining that, so I'll wrap this up. The last thing I wanted to mention was the possibility of pairings. I don't have any planned yet, but if I did do one it would probably be Hinata and Naruto. I've really only got this planned up until about the chunin exams, after that I don't have any concrete plans for the story, so I'm not sure where the time line will go. Anyways, on with the show. Enjoy!

----------------------------------

Naruto had woken up that morning more excited than he'd ever been in his entire life. He was finally going to be a genin! Although he'd barely gotten any sleep at all after his talk with Iruka and receiving the precious metal accessory that meant he was officially a ninja from now on, he'd had more energy than most people would know what to do with. Of course, Naruto used it to cartwheel and handspring his way to the academy, after which he began to feel the effects of his expired breakfast. He walked into the classroom a little more subdued.

He looked around at his classmates who were graduating with him. Well, almost all of them were graduating. Hyuuga Neji had apparently graduated last year, but had refused to be placed in a team without his cousin. Hinata probably could have been graduated early as well if she insisted, but it would have made the team numbers odd. She had also been spending a lot of time learning about her duties that year and during the beginning of this one, so she didn't have any burning desire to become a genin and cram her schedule full to bursting.

Sasuke, on the other hand, had jumped at the chance to skip ahead a year and take Neji's place, and after showing off in a display that nearly made his drooling fans have seizures at his coolness, had been placed in a team with Rock Lee and Tenten. Which of course nearly made half of his drooling fans have seizures over the fact that they'd barely ever see him again.

Naruto looked at Neji a bit more carefully, trying to think of what he knew about him. _I can't believe someone would really pass up their chance to graduate for a whole year just to be on someone's team. What a weirdo._ Naruto actually liked Hinata quite a bit as well, but there was no way he'd pass up his graduation to get teamed with her. Come to think of it, although Neji hadn't needed to be at the academy for the last year since he'd already passed it's final exam, Naruto saw him around fairly often. In particular, he always seemed to walk Hinata to and from school.

Naruto didn't actually know a whole lot about Hinata. He liked her because she didn't treat him like trash like the rest of his class, and because she had guts. If their was one thing Naruto could respect, it was the guts to stand up and protect people. He had regularly gotten into scraps with some of the less popular trainees when he was younger. He'd find them bullying some poor untrained kid, lording their training over them and generally terrorizing the poor soul. Naruto would jump in and pick a fight so the kid could get away. Not that any parent would believe that of course. Any fight 'that kid' got into was clearly a malicious act of rage, and everyone was clearly just lucky he was such a weakling.

One time Naruto had bitten off more than he could chew though, and was rapidly losing ground to a gang of 4 kids, too engaged in keeping upright to try escaping. Hinata had shown up out of nowhere and started yelling and glaring at them, which caused the lot of them to scatter like roaches under bright light. Naruto was surprised again when, instead of glaring at him next, she had told him it was nice to see someone else who would stick up for people in trouble. Naruto didn't really know what to say to that, so he had just kind of nodded and ran off. It stuck in his mind though, that Hinata had been willing to pick a fight with 4 people at once if she had to, if she thought they were wrong. Not many trainees had the guts to do something like that.

Naruto's gaze skipped past the two of them finally and looked around a bit more. Sakura and Ino were there, and had become a bit less annoying without Sasuke's presence. They still seemed mostly like complete airheads though. Shino was another weirdo who mostly kept to himself, but that meant he never really bothered Naruto so he didn't mind him either. Kiba was obnoxious and loud. Naruto couldn't tell if he really had guts or was just a blowhard, but either way he was always mouthing off at Naruto so he didn't like him much either. Shikamaru and Chouji were both pretty laid back, so he wouldn't really care either way if he were stuck with them.

Iruka interrupted his thoughts by asking for everyone's attention as he came in. Naruto perked up when he began announcing the teams.

"...Hyuuga Hinata, Hyuuga Neji, and Uzumaki Naruto will form team 7. Team 8 will be Aburame Shino, Haruno Sakura, and ..."

_Not bad at all. I didn't get stuck with anyone who hated me. I think..._ Naruto glanced over at his two brand new teammates, who were whispering to each other. Mostly it seemed to be Hinata talking, and Neji seemed to be calming down. He had looked pretty anxious when Naruto had first looked over after their team had been announced. Iruka interrupted his thoughts again with important bit of information. They had a break until later that afternoon when they'd meet their new sensei. Most of the teams sort of scattered and left, a few heading out together and chatting. Naruto noticed Hinata and Neji were coming over to greet him so he got up.

"Hello Naruto. Looks like you'll be working with Neji and me. I hope we can work well together."

"I hope so too. I'm glad I ended up with you two. I was worried I might have gotten stuck with someone annoying like Ino or Kiba. I don't really know Neji but I at least know you aren't a jerk Hinata."

Hinata looked a little surprised by such an open response; most people that talked to her were all too aware of her status to speak to her like just another person. Neji, on the other hand looked like he'd just been bitten by a mosquito for the tenth time that day. He stepped forward a bit and began his "Respect Hinata-sama or else!" speech.

"Naruto, I don't think you realize how important Hinata-sama is, she's-"

Hinata pulled him back just behind her where he'd been standing before while cutting off his familiar lines. She didn't mind when she did it to someone who was being genuinely disrespectful, but Naruto didn't really know who she was, and didn't really need to anyways. Besides, she didn't want to start off on the wrong foot with her new ally.

"He doesn't need to know about that stuff Neji. As far as I'm concerned, from now on we're all simply teammates. He doesn't need to treat me any differently than you do." Neji looked a little ashamed at having taken too much offense at Naruto's familiar manner, but wasn't about to apologize. "Me and Neji were going to get something to eat, would you like to come with us?"

At that cue, Naruto's stomach promptly reminded him of how upset it was with what he'd dumped into it that morning.

"Uhhhh, I'm not hungry Hinata, I gotta go though. I'll see you guys later okay?" With that Naruto took off towards the nearest bathroom before either of them could reply.

"You sure he's a decent guy Hinata? No offense, but I've never heard anything good about him and he seems like a complete idiot."

Hinata fidgeted a bit as she always did in the rare times she was uncertain of herself. She didn't really have any good reasons why she trusted Naruto aside from that time she'd found him drawing those thugs off some poor kid in an alley. Still, she felt he'd gotten a much worse reputation than he deserved.

"He's just got a lot of bad rumours going against him I think. You remember some of the things people have said about me don't you? I think it's the same with him. I don't know why, but people seems to enjoy making up nasty stories about him. The worst I've ever seen him do is pull some pranks, which are actually pretty impressive on occasion, albeit entirely inappropriate for a professional of any sort. But I don't think he'd do anything to that would upset us on purpose."

Neji could easily remember some of the nastier rumours he'd heard floating around about Hinata. He hadn't even told her the worst of them. He pretty much always heard them from some third party outside the family who had heard them from someone else who heard them from someone in the family, so he almost never got to track down anyone worth exacting revenge on for spreading the lies. For whatever reason, there were a lot of people who seemed to hate her guts within the family, to such an extent that after talking to Hizashi about it, Neji and his father had persuaded her to learn how to perform and control the family seal from the Hokage for her own protection. She had made a fuss about it but she couldn't think of a good enough reason to refuse. Fortunately she hadn't had to brand anyone herself, and wouldn't need to for at least another 3 or 4 years, since the oldest child under the age of 4 in the household was barely a year old. Hinata secretly hoped she'd find some sort of excuse not to by then, the whole thing was creepy to her.

"I suppose you might be right. I haven't really seen him at all personally, so I'll give him the benefit of the doubt on your behalf at least. Anyways, lets go eat like you said. You want sushi again?"

-----------------------------------

After the break the three of them met back up in the class room to wait for the new jounin instructor only to be disappointed.

Naruto was particularly annoyed. "How can a jounin get away with being this late? Do you think maybe he forgot about us?"

Hinata tried to reassure him, although similar thoughts had gone through her mind. "He's probably just busy with some sort of important work. Anyways, I bet it's just a fluke that he's this late. Everyone has unlucky days sometimes right?"

Neji didn't really believe that, but kept quiet anyways. He'd reserve judgement for when the tardy sensei showed up. Neji was very good at reading people's facial movements and body language, so he figured he could probably tell if the guy made up some sort of excuse. No point in speculating about something he'd know for sure soon enough. Hinata and Naruto were amusing themselves by making up stories about what might have delayed him so much, which became more insane as time went on. Just as Neji's eyes were beginning to bulge at the absurdity of the stories, Kakashi walked in.

"Ah, excuse me for being late, but a kite was flying too close to some power lines so I had to get it down for the kid safely, and it was really windy so it took a long time. . ."

Hinata and Naruto couldn't help but burst out laughing. That was one of the stories they had come up with while waiting for him. Neji might have choked to death if he had been eating at the time. He couldn't read his expression very well behind that mask, but that story was so lame anyone could tell it was a lie.

Kakashi did his best to try and be cool in front of the three genin who now seemed to take him about as seriously as a four year old's imaginary friend. "Anyways, lets head outside and we can get to know each other a bit better."

Kakashi led one annoyed and two giggling genin outside to some benches at the edge of a training area and motioned for everyone to sit down.

"Well for starters, how about the three of you share a bit about yourselves. You know, likes and dislikes, dreams, hobbies, that stuff."

This time Naruto looked annoyed. "What about you? All we know about you is that you make up lame excuses after being really late. You should go first."

_Wow, what a mouthy kid. Where did he learn to talk to his sensei like that?_ "Well, My name is Hatake Kakashi. I don't really feel like warning you guys about the things I dislike, and you're too young to know about the things I do like. I have dreams when I'm asleep and have hobbies in my spare time. Now you guys go, starting with Naruto then going to the right."

All three genin were rather nonplused about that rather uninformative description, but Naruto decided to drop it and go ahead and talk about himself.

"I'm Uzumaki Naruto. I like ramen, especially the stuff at the restaurant Iruka takes me to, but cup ramen is good too. I dislike cold ramen though. That's annoying." Naruto noticed the three of them giving him an odd look, and Hinata reminded him of something else. "Oh, and I hate jerks that pick easy fights just to look strong. For hobbies... well I pull a lot of pranks usually. And my dream, my dream is to surpass the Hokage and be recognized by everyone in the village!"

Neji was rather surprised at that. _He's really going to try for something like that? He's dead last though, probably doesn't stand a chance._ _Must not be very bright._

Hinata felt her faith in him reinforced after hearing him speak. _He really is quite brave isn't he, to honestly try for so grand a dream from his position?_ _How can anyone not respect a will like that?_

Kakashi didn't have any particular expectations about Naruto so he wasn't exactly surprised at his dream, but thought he was interesting nonetheless, if a bit ramen obsessed. "Alright, Hinata's turn."

"I'm Hyuuga Hinata, heir to the Hyuuga clan. I also dislike cowards who prey on the weak for selfish reasons. I like people who are honest and strong willed. My dream is to become a strong leader of my clan like my father was, and to protect Konoha with that strength. My hobbies are meditation and reading."

Neji picked up with his own introduction without being asked. "My name is Hyuuga Neji, and I'm Hinata's cousin and bodyguard. I like people who are intelligent and reliable. I dislike people who don't fulfill their duties or abandon their responsibilities. My dream is . . . well I suppose I don't really have one myself. I want to see Hinata fulfill her dream. My hobbies include mediation and sparring."

Naruto was somewhat confused, not knowing anything about the Hyuuga clan. _What does it mean that she was the heir? Is she rich or something? I already kind of knew she didn't like the same kind of people as me. And who was her father? Maybe I'll ask her later. Neji just seems stiff. And they have lame hobbies. Sparring is kinda fun I guess, but mediating and reading?_ _Sparring with Neji might be interesting, but he might be too much of a tight-ass to spar with someone like me._

Kakashi wasn't sure what to make of these two. He agreed with much of what the girl said and respected her outlook, but she was rather cold and detached when she had said it, so he felt like he was missing something there. Neji on the other hand spoke like he was some sort of stiff rules bound type, but seemed to have a strong attachment to his cousin. _Well, I guess I'll find out what they're all really like during the test._

Kakashi explained that there would be a second test to see if they actually became Genin or not, and handed them the printouts, reminding them not to eat anything for breakfast before wandering off. Naruto had kind of freaked out at the news but Hinata assured him that they had probably the strongest team this year so they'd surely pass. Naruto's stomach had finally settled so he ran home and started wolfing down ramen so he wouldn't be as hungry tomorrow morning, and Hinata had things to take care of at home so she and Neji headed back as well. All three of them went to bed with the same thought on their minds. _That bastard better not be that late again tomorrow._


	4. Chapter 4

**Dutiful Eyes**

By Stormlock

----------------------------------

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto. (Insert a witty joke here if you like. Unless you did that the last three times, in which case I'm all out now.)

----------------------------------

**AN/To my reviewers:** One of the reviews brought up the subject of Hanabi. After checking the timeline, I came to the conclusion that she can't exist in this AU, since her father died over a year before she would have been born. A friend of mine also brought up to subject of Hinata's mother. I must confess, I'd pretty much forgotten about the fact that Hinata must have had a mother. I wanted to go with the excuse of her mother having died in the Kyuubi attack, but it turns out Hinata was born after Naruto by 2 months, so no dice there either. The manga is frustratingly vague about the mothers of the Hyuuga. For the purposes of the fic, I'm assuming Hinata's mother died within a year of having Hinata, and Hanabi would have been a step-sibling. I'm toying with the possibility of an original character of Hanabi's age as Hizashi's child instead (and possibly a boy instead of a girl) with the logic of Hizashi meeting the same woman Hiashi did. However, I haven't really thought of a good reason to put such a character in, and unless I do, I probably won't add the kid. Anyways, on with the fic; the first chapter with some combat.

---------------------------------

Kakashi was bored. Having set up his most humiliating traps in the test grounds the night before hand and having already held a 'contest' with Gai (Kakashi had given Gai the challenge of collecting flowers, and then won handily by walking into a flower shop once Gai was a half dozen blocks away) Kakashi was running out of things to do to amuse himself. He had his latest book to read, but he was planning on reading that during the test. The last three years he hadn't brought anything and it had gotten pretty dull. Of course, technically he should have been meeting his team twenty minutes ago, so really he did have something to do, but he was sure if he waited around and thought for a while longer, he'd think of some reason to put if off for at least another half hour.

As it turned out, Kakashi couldn't think of anything better to do, so he arrived a mere thirty minutes late in front of his famished genin team hopefuls. Noting that they didn't seem especially thrilled to see him, he decided to save the wonderful story about a child's missing cat he'd thought of for a day when they'd appreciate it more, and skip to the explanation of the bells test. Hinata looked angry at first, but then her expression slipped away into that odd blank look she so often wore. Neji didn't seem angry per-se, but certainly agitated by the news. Naruto looked angry **and** agitated at the explanation, probably both feeling unfairly tested and afraid of being ganged up on by the cousins. Overall, they were behaving exactly like he thought they would. _How boring. . ._

Hinata and Neji and ran off together at a right angle from the direction Naruto had, and before long they had all disappeared into the trees. Kakashi figured now was as good a time as any to bring out his book. After all, rookies like them might spend a whole hour trying to out wait each other or think of a plan. In any case, it's not like it would be fair if he spied on them and knew their plans in advance anyways. It certainly wouldn't be as interesting.

A short ways into the first 'interesting' scene (as Kakashi liked to call them) of the book, he noticed an energetic looking Naruto charging across the field from the opposite side of the clearing he had exited from. _Before I even finished the first scene? Geez, for a pervert Jiraiya sure does take his time getting to the fun stuff in his books sometimes._ Before Naruto had even gotten halfway from his cover to Kakashi's position Neji had ran up behind him and tackled him to the ground. A scuffle that lasted about 15 seconds ended with Naruto tied up on the ground not struggling quite as hard as he should have been swearing at Neji profusely. Neji was offering some dry apology about how he couldn't wait forever and it wasn't fair to let him hold Hinata back either. _Oh yeah, the Hyuuga have some odd taijutsu style that cuts off chakra don't they? Probably not worth worrying about, no way a twelve year old is going to touch me. . ._

Now Hinata was running out of the clearing behind Neji, who slowed down to let her catch up before they charged him together. _I suppose that's technically teamwork, but they're obviously not ready if they're that willing to screw over a teammate. Makes me want to just end this now. They'll probably remember the point better if I drag this out and humiliate them a bit though. Besides, that might be fun too._

Shortly before the pair reached him, Hinata's hands flickered out for a moment and released a small swarm of smoke bombs, obscuring a relatively large portion of the clearing. _Does she think they'll be able to follow the sound_ _of the bells? That's awfully naive. _"Byakugan!" The technique name spoken in stereo reminded him of who these two were. However, Kakashi decided that this was still far too simple a ploy to bother entertaining, and simply dashed out of the smoke screen. He was followed by Neji and Hinata and Hinata and Neji and Neji and Hinata. _Well, at least they thought ahead somewhat. But a standard genin level bunshin can't even physically manipulate matter. At most they're simply minor distractions until I pick out the real ones. _That task turned out to be disappointingly easy. The genin didn't even bother to tone down their skill while fighting him, so compared to their simple clones they fought ten times as well and were pitifully easy to pick out. The clone's fighting styles were so different from the real genin they might as well have been from another village. Several of the clones made phantom grabs for the bells in between the attacks he dodged by pure reflex without even thinking. Kakashi let their illusionary hands swish through the bells once just to prove his point to them.

He decided to finally put the book away so he could restrain one of the genin with one hand while he taunted the other. _Hmm, which one. Neji would probably be more offended personally at being overwhelmed, but if I grab Hinata instead he's still probably the one to get angry the most. Hmm, he'll probably get the picture better if I force him to fail at protecting her rather than give him any illusions about having sacrificed himself so she could get away or some such nonsense. _Kakashi's hand shot out and grabbed Hinata's arm, twisting it around so she'd be forced to her knees facing away from him, and pulling her other arm with it so she was completely helpless. Suddenly there was a puff of smoke and Kakashi realized he was actually holding Neji. _Maybe I should have at least given them a closer look before_ _trying to read again after I left the smoke. _Neji's amused voice chipped into his thoughts again. "Only an amateur bodyguard would fail before even getting between the threat and his charge."Kakashi nearly laughed at Neji's tone. Was he trying to act cool while on his knees after being captured? "I'm sorry, were you trying to teach me something? I was just finishing off one of the more interesting parts of my book" Before that phrase finished registering in his brain, Neji switched focus towards twisting out of the way of Hinata's volley of shuriken. Kakashi didn't bother getting out of the way, instead opting to simply knock them out of the air with his bare free hand. Hinata tried to run around behind him while the bunshins (4 more of which had ran out of the smoke while she attacked) ran in irritating circles around them, but Kakashi just dragged Neji along with him like a rag doll and kept facing her. "You know, if this situation were real, he'd be a hostage right now." Hinata smirked at that. "Actually Kakashi-san, if this situation were real, Neji-kun would have lit you up like a stack of kindling with some explosive tags by now. There's no way he'd use any lesser force than that if we got in a real fight all alone with a jounin. You don't really understand him at all do you?" Kakashi didn't know what to say to that. Was he really holding a kid that serious about his job? _If that's the case he needs to become much more skilled tactically, as well as learning to value all his teammates more. It's truly a waste for a drive that strong to be in someone that would pick a fight with one of his teammates. Even if Naruto is 'dead last'. _"**Bang!**" Neji's uncharacteristically loud shout and a painful flare in his hand caused Kakashi to stop thinking about the kid and let go of Neji before jumping backwards. Neji was smiling.

Kakashi's hand was hurting, but not that badly. Neji hadn't even scored a proper tenketsu hit on him, his hand would work fine. Kakashi had mostly let go because he didn't feel like enduring any pain at all when he could simply knock the two of them out and end the exercise right there. Well, that and the pain had been distracting from his daydreaming, which was really the only thing interesting about a fight with two genin. (Some of the other jounin joked that Kakashi actually failed his students because they made the test too boring for him rather than any sort of teamwork principles.) _Why the hell is Neji smiling anyways? Did he fool himself into thinking he crippled my hand? _Kakashi looked back down at his hand and noticed two things at once. Naruto's voice coming from one of the Neji bunshins, and the bells absent from his waist next to his hand. "Ring-ring Kakashi-sensei!" The Neji bunshin that had been speaking with Naruto's voice vanished in a puff of smoke, through which Kakashi heard the two bells drop into Neji's outstretched palm.

Kakashi looked back across the clearing as another bunshin popped out of cover and cut the bindings that had been holding Naruto down the entire time. It gave a peace symbol to the rest of them before vanishing. As Naruto ran over to meet up with the rest of them Kakashi looked back at the two Hyuuga children with a lot more respect. "Well, you three certainly earned those two bells. I've never been outsmarted by a team of rookies before." Kakashi put on his serious face before leaning over and speaking in a more solemn tone. "So, who's getting the bells?" Neji simply tossed both of them to Naruto as he ran up, causing Kakashi to lift his visible eyebrow. "Hinata won't take away Naruto's chance to graduate, and I'm not going anywhere without Hinata, so Naruto is getting both of them. We'll just wait until next year and try again with a different teacher, we've got plenty of business to take care of in the mean time anyways. A ninja can never spend enough time training, after all." Neji's explanation seemed to lack any particularly grudging tone. It seemed he really didn't mind that much.

"I guess that makes sense. But, aren't you guys at least hungry? I'm still gonna tie you to stumps if you don't have a bell."

"Not really. Hinata keeps some jerky and dried fruit with her supplies, along with some other food to use as animal bait, so we had a little picnic while we met in the trees. Naruto's got the biggest appetite between us by far anyways."

Kakashi face palmed at that. Nobody else had ever thought to bring food with them in case they were hungry after the exercise, they always seemed to plan on just going home or eating out. Go figure that the _royalty_ of Konoha would pack her team a lunch.

"So you two really don't care if you have to wait another year?"

Hinata flashed him a creepy fake smile. "Actually Kakashi-sensei, I find your methods of pitting teammates against each other to compete for limited chances to graduate entirely deplorable. So, I gave one of Naruto's clones my camera and asked him to write a report of the exercise. I'm going to give a copy of the report to both Hizashi and the Hokage. Did you get some good pictures Naruto?"

Naruto looked thrilled as he handed over the camera and his messy notes written on an expensive Hyuuga scroll. "Hell yeah! This thing's great, it zooms in so far I didn't even need to get very close. I got pictures of him fighting you guys, standing around while Neji attacked me, the stumps with ropes around them, his bells, those traps you pointed out, him reading that perverted book. . ."

Sweat forming on the exposed side of Kakashi's face indicated that he was beginning to regret his choice of examination. He was, in fact, wondering if they'd even believe him if he told them the real point of the exercise. He'd pretty much decided to pass them when he realized they hadn't betrayed Naruto after all, but things probably didn't seem that way from their viewpoint. The Hokage and some other jounins knew how he did his exam, but he doubted Hizashi knew.

"Umm, how about we pretend you guys somehow found a third bell and I just pass all three of you?"

Now Hinata had a creepy sugary voice to go along with her fake smile. "Why, that sounds like a great idea Kakashi-sensei! I'm glad you're so reasonable." Kakashi was beginning to suspect the charming Hyuuga heiress wasn't entirely unfamiliar with the whole blackmail process.

-------------------------

That was a blast to write. I hope you guys enjoyed it as much as I did.


	5. Chapter 5

**Dutiful Eyes**

By Stormlock

----------------------------------

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto. (Who reads these anyways?.)

----------------------------------

**AN:** I never mentioned it, but in the previous chapter, Hinata explained the basic properties of the Byakugan to Naruto; what it can see, the fact that it drains chakra to use, and the fact that it has a blind spot. She didn't go into any major detail, but he knows what the Byakugan does. Oh, and in case anyone doesn't know, a senbon is a metal needle weapon, it's the thing the depressed looking referee guy in the chunin exams keeps in his mouth all the time. And the Hakke is the flashy 64 strike technique Neji uses in the chunin exams. Although I was thinking about it the other day, and isn't it actually 2 strikes short, since he starts with 2 and doubles each time, it leaves a gap right? Well, it's not like it's drawn down to the last hit in the manga or anything, it just struck me as odd. . .

---------------------------------

"Oh, Naruto, were you planning on doing anything when we get back?"

Naruto didn't even pretend to think about Hinata's question. "No, I've just been bothering Kakashi to teach me stuff when we get back early like this, but he keeps giving me lame excuses and running off anyway." Naruto threw a small rock at his teacher's head, causing him to dodge and remain out of sight for the rest of the trip back to town.

Team 7 had been doing 'D' rank missions for just about a week now, and had been completing almost every single one far more quickly than was expected. This left them with a lot of extra time on their hands. Hinata and Neji didn't mind so much, since Hinata had extra duties to take care of at home and Neji could never cram enough training into his schedule, but it had been driving Naruto crazy. Hinata had come up with an obvious solution to that problem and another one that Neji was having recently.

"I haven't been sparring with Neji very often lately because of other things I need to do, so I was wondering if you could train with him for me." Neji tried not to make a face while Hinata talked about him like he wasn't there. Since both she and Neji could tell that Naruto needed some help with his taijutsu technique anyways, she figured Neji could bring Naruto up to speed and Naruto could give Neji someone to practice with. Neji knew it was a good idea, but he didn't like asking for help, especially from someone like Naruto. Hinata had no such qualm of course. Neji finally relented when she pointed out that if he could help Naruto even a small amount, it would be safer for all of them, since they'd be that much stronger collectively.

Naruto was eager to have something worthwhile to do in his spare time. The missions were way too easy, and he was considering pestering Kakashi about getting them some bigger ones, but this would give him something to keep the downtime between missions from being a waste.

"Sure Hinata, I'd love to get some extra training in. You both seem really good at taijutsu, so I can probably learn some cool tricks too."

"Actually, Neji is much better than me at taijutsu, so I've started to work on longer range skills and ninjutsu instead. That's why I haven't been sparring with Neji very much lately."

Before long they got back home and Hinata and Neji showed Naruto to the training ground they usually used. It was a small deciduous wooded area with a number of well worn trails running through it. There weren't any truly open areas, but the trees were sparse enough that one could usually throw a kunai more than 50 feet before hitting a tree, and there was easily enough room to spar while still allowing use of cover and the terrain to one's advantage.

"Nice spot you guys have here! So, what are the rules for when we spar Neji?"

"Well, lets just start out with just basic taijutsu practice, so no kagebunshins or other ninjutsus. You don't have to worry about pulling any punches though. Hinata knows a few medical techniques, so as long as we're just fighting unarmed or with light weapons like kunai she can patch us up. That's one of the reasons she learned that stuff actually, so we could train harder without wasting time recovering."

"Cool. I didn't know Hinata knew things like that. They didn't teach that stuff at the academy at all. Anyways, lets start. I haven't had a good fight in ages!"

With that, Naruto and Neji started sparring while Hinata watched them. Neji of course, was fighting with the Jyuuken style, only without actually using chakra to hurt Naruto. This confused the hell out of Naruto, but he didn't say anything. After a couple of (frustrating) minutes, Neji held up his hand and asked for a time out.

"Naruto, you're pretty fast and strong, but your technique is abysmal! Why don't you know any of the forms or defenses beyond the basic ones?"

"Well, my teachers always told me I wasn't ready for that stuff and made me do weight training and stuff instead. What's with the weird technique you use though? I've never seen anyone else fight like that before, it doesn't seem like you could hurt anybody that way, even if I couldn't really land a hit on you either."

Neji had a good chuckle at the thought of the Jyuuken style not being able to hurt anyone. Just from the things Hizashi had taught him there were a dozen ways to kill an opponent. After reading through some of the intermediate scrolls Neji had realized there were far more. The possibilities seemed to increase exponentially in fact, as one's skill increased. Then his brow furrowed when he thought about what Naruto had said just before that. _That's insane, Naruto's got enough physical training to perform techniques that are usually not taught until two or three years after what he knows now. Well, at least that stuff should be easy to learn for someone in as good a shape as he is._

"Well, first of all Naruto, I don't know who the hell told you that, but it was a load of crap. I can teach you a lot of stuff you should be able to use very effectively. Second, the style I use is called 'Jyuuken' and it's only used by the Hyuuga clan. In real combat, we can use chakra to disable an opponent by touching them on special 'tenketsu' points. By hitting the right ones you can cripple or even kill someone, even if physically you just barely touch them for an instant.

Naruto's eyes widened as he realized all the times he had let Neji poke his arms or jab his sides he could have been crippled or killed. _I better not take what I know for granted any more, if this had been a real fight I'd be dead right now. Mental note: In the future, never let an enemy touch you, even slightly!_ "Oh, so does Hinata know that style too?"

"Well actually, Hinata's chakra control and Byakugan -the technique used to find the right spots to hit- are better than mine, so arguably she's got better technique."

"Neji you don't have to say stuff like that about me. You know I'd never beat you in a Jyuuken contest."

"That's just because of your hands though, I bet you could make your own style that works without it if you really tried."

Naruto was somewhat puzzled at their little dialogue. "Wait, is something wrong with Hinata's hands? Why would she need a different style?"

Hinata assumed her best lecture tone and began explaining as though from a textbook.

"Almost all Hyuuga are born with the Byakugan eyes, which is common knowledge. Some have much more powerful eyes than others though, and both me and Neji are fairly gifted in that sense. But only a moderate ability is required to use Jyuuken anyways, so it's the most common technique in the Hyuuga clan. However, it's somewhat uncommon knowledge that nineteen out of twenty Hyuuga are born with another trait thatis also required to use anything beyond the most basic Jyuuken style. They are double-jointed at the wrist. I'm not double jointed at all, so I can only use the most basic techniques."

"So that's how he made all those weird moves while we were fighting! I thought it was just some weird part of the style."

"Actually, Neji's especially gifted; as he's not just double jointed at the wrist, he's also double jointed on six of his fingers, and partially double jointed on his elbows, as well as having extended range of motion in his shoulders. There hasn't been a clan member that gifted in a long time, so Neji will be the first to use some of the most advanced Jyuuken techniques in over twenty years, and will probably end up creating some of his own to compliment his special arms and hands. It's somewhat more dangerous for an amateur to fight with arms like that, since it's easier to hurt oneself with an unusual range of motion, but for someone of Neji's talents it's really no problem at all."

Neji was turning slightly red as Hinata went on praising him, and he decided to change the subject. "Anyways Naruto, since I'm mostly a taijutsu specialist, I know a lot about the standard attacks and how to defend against them. Let me show you some of the more advanced techniques. . ."

-----------------------------------------

Naruto and Neji trained together for several days in a row, as they kept receiving missions that were far too easy to complete. After the first day, Neji had suggested Naruto use a kagebunshin or two to keep things challenging for him. Since Neji didn't actually land solid hits on the clones anyways, Naruto had no trouble at all using them the entire time they sparred, which both impressed Neji and kept him happy to be able to have an honest challenge by fighting against multiple opponents; a situation he was unable to practice normally. After the first day Hinata moved a little ways away and practiced her own techniques, which as far as Naruto could tell, involved some sort of throwing technique or projectile attack ninjutsu. After a while his curiosity got the better of him and Naruto decided to ask her about it after they finished training one day.

"So Hinata, I'm really curious, what kind of technique are you working on? Neji said you have really good chakra control and eyes, so he figures it'll be really strong. But he didn't seem to know exactly what you were trying to learn either."

Hinata hadn't wanted to talk about the jutsu she had been working on since practicing pretty much any technique other than Jyuuken was rather frowned upon by most Hyuuga. She knew Neji wouldn't really hold it against her, and Hizashi would understand as well, but she felt it would just be easier if she didn't bring it up. Then again, nobody had directly asked her about it either, and there really wasn't any reason she could think of not to tell Naruto.

"Well, it's a combination of a few things. Maybe I should start by explaining why I'm learning it. Neji's already extremely good at close quarters combat due to his talents with the Jyuuken style, and since I really don't have any way of becoming as good as he is, or even advancing past the intermediate level ever, I decided to focus on something else. I decided to specialize in a focused ranged attack. I use senbon, shuriken and kunai to force my opponent to dodge into a predictable position, then attack with a more powerful wind based piercing ninjutsu attack. However, I've been making pretty slow progress. My thrown weapons are acceptably accurate, since they're primarily meant to force an opponent to move and don't need to be exact. However, I'm having trouble with the rest of the technique as a whole. I need to use my Byakugan to accurately attack the opponent's vital points, but that is making it difficult to form the wind needles correctly. I'm also having trouble making the final ninjutsu attack accurate and powerful at the same time; the extra force required to make it that powerful over a long range makes it very difficult to control. Lastly, I'm having trouble reading movements and predicting reactions well. I've been practicing on insects in the forest here, but I can tell that there's too much time between my attacks while I figure out where to aim the next strike for it to be reliable against an aggressive opponent. As it is, I can really only effectively use the final portion of the technique against an opponent too distracted to evade, since it takes so long to adjust my aim with a powerful enough strike. I suppose it would make a useful assassination technique, but I need it to be a battle grade technique to be worth the effort I've put into it so far."

Neji was there while she explained to Naruto, as they were all walking towards the Hyuuga compound together as they often did after training. Neji was pretty impressed; it sounded to him like she was trying to create a ranged and physical version of the Hakke he had been reading about. He had tried to get Hizashi to teach him the technique, but apparently he didn't know it, he said it was a technique only used by the main family, so it was lost with Hiashi, although the Hokage at least knew the Kaiten technique, since that didn't require the Byakugan to perform, only immense chakra control. Neji wasn't that interested in the Kaiten anyways though, since it was a technique used for personal defense, and he wanted techniques he could use to protect Hinata. So he had been privately working on the Hakke technique from what little information he could gather, fearing reprisal from officials if it was discovered he was trying to steal a technique from the main family. He made a mental note to bring it up with Hinata later and share his progress with her, they both might be able to perfect their chosen techniques more efficiently if they worked together.

Kakashi was also there for the explanation, though hidden, but revealed himself before Naruto could say anything. "Sounds awfully tricky for a genin. Maybe I'll help you with that while we're in Wave country."

All three genin did a double take at having Kakashi reveal himself from right behind them. Hinata was the first to find her voice.

"How long were you. . . wait, Wave country? We're going to the Wave country?"

"It seems we've been making the other rookie teams look bad when they get missions with the same employers we get hired to, so I managed to convince the Hokage to set us up with a C rank mission this time. I'm guessing you guys don't mind? I could always tell him you're not ready yet of course. . ."

Naruto looked like he had won the lottery. "Kick ass! We finally get a real mission! So what are we doing exactly? How come I've never heard of Wave country? Do they have a hidden village too? Are we going to fight-"

"Wow, just settle down will you? What kind of lame ninja is so noisy all the time anyways?" at that comment, Naruto was somewhat subdued. "It's an escort mission for a bridge builder named Tazuna. We're to protect him while he builds a bridge in wave country. It's a small country without a hidden village, which is why we were hired for protection. Since it's only a C rank mission, there's no real danger. You guys should be able to handle whatever thugs might try and cause him trouble, and I'll be around to protect you. The mission will take a lot longer than our daily D rank missions however, and since most of it will be spent waiting for Tazuna to finish the bridge, we'll have some free time to train as well. We're leaving tomorrow morning, so you guys get plenty of rest and be well prepared alright?"

With that, Kakashi disappeared before the genin could shout 'Don't be late!'


	6. Chapter 6

**Dutiful Eyes**

By Stormlock

----------------------------------

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto. (Who reads these anyways?.)

----------------------------------

**AN:** Sorry for this chapter taking so much longer. I had something of a block trying to think of how the first parts in this section would go, as my mind kept wandering towards things that would happen afterwards. The bonus to that is that I'll probably be able to do the next couple of chapters fairly quickly though.

---------------------------------------

Kakashi arrived with Tazuna in front of the gate a good fifteen minutes later than they were supposed to have left. Before Naruto could call Kakashi on his tardiness again however, Tazuna began gawking at the genin team.

"These brats are my escort? I paid for protection, not a chance to babysit!" Naruto and Neji both glared at clumsy looking man they both knew they could kill blindfolded using only their feet. Hinata on the other hand blushed, embarrassed to have offended their client already. Kakashi's reply to the offensive old coot was nonchalant.

"They're the top rookies this year, and I'm their teacher. Normally a low priority mission like this wouldn't even get a shinobi as highly ranked as me assigned to it, so you should feel lucky."

Tazuna didn't seem satisfied with that answer, but didn't have any logical response to it either, so he kept his mouth shut. At least, until Naruto took a shot at him about how old he looked. After that, Tazuna, Naruto and Neji spent the time exchanging insults. Hinata would have interrupted her teammates, but Kakashi started walking beside her and snickering at them, mentioning how amusing the three were. Before long though, the insults stopped as everyone's eyes turned to Kakashi, who had apparently been turned into hamburger by the two ninjas that had appeared out of nowhere. All three genin screamed out in horror at the sight. Hinata, being so close to him, was their next target.

"Hinata, duck!" Hinata obeyed Neji's instruction blindly, hearing a clash of metal just above her as his kunai and Naruto's shuriken were busily deflected by the chunin that had ambushed them. Coming to her senses, Hinata noticed the nin on her right beginning to dash towards the lone Tazuna, who had tried to take cover on the side of the road. Taking her chance, she rolled forward away from the other chunin still trying to fend off the hail of weapons being launched by her allies. The chunin ahead of her noticed her pursuit and flicked the chain he was carrying away from his partner expertly, causing it to begin coiling around her. Hinata rather ungracefully chose to tackle the nin's legs, where the chain would be off little help. Unfortunately for her, he was significantly faster than she had judged, and he easily spun around in time to ready a kick heavy enough to snap her neck. Unfortunately for him however, Kakashi wasn't actually dead, and entered the fray at that moment. "Yo."was followed by Kakashi removing the chunin's remaining foot from the ground and throwing him aside into a tree (And incidently out of the path of Neji's last thrown kunai), while also causing the chain connected to his gauntlet to yank his partner (Who was charging a weaponless Naruto and Neji) off his feet and into Kakashi's waiting fist.

After explaining to an angry Neji and Naruto why faking one's own death was both useful AND entertaining (and rendering the enemy chunin unconscious and bound a good distance away where a patrol would likely find them before too long), Kakashi turned to Tazuna and gave him a scrutinizing gaze. When Tazuna looked away his eyes bumped into Hinata's glare. He settled on Kakashi, who began to speak.

"You never said anything about being sought after by enemy shinobi. I'm guessing you had some sort of reason for that lie, but you've made things very complicated, and I don't appreciate the danger you might've placed my genins in. This is likely at least a B rank mission. Your explanation had better be a good one."

Tazuna swallowed hard. Neji was glaring at him too now, and it wasn't the creepy calm glare of the other two. The kid looked like he was waiting for the others to turn away for a moment so he could get his revenge without any witnesses. _At least the blonde kid doesn't look too pissed. Little brat would probably like having to fight for his life._

Naruto was, in fact, very excited to have had his first real battle. If he hadn't already been accustomed to being on his best behavior while working with his teammates he'd have probably been chattering giddily about it. As it was though, he realized the rest of his team wasn't happy about it at all, and would likely think him a fool for saying so.

"Well, you're right about the danger of this mission; in fact, you might even rate it higher when you hear what I'm going to tell you. I'm being hunted on behalf of Gatou; a wealthy crime lord."

Hinata recalled something when Tazuna mentioned that name, and decided to gather some information herself.

"As in, from the Gatou shipping company? I recall Hizashi making a big deal about not doing any business with them some time ago. If it's the same person, he's an extremely wealthy man."

Kakashi nodded. "I've heard of Gatou, he's said to be one of the wealthiest men anywhere. If you knew you were in danger like that, why didn't you say so?"

"I didn't have a choice. Trust me, I don't have a death wish. That's why I made such a fuss about having kids do the job when we left; I have a family to return to. However, our country is extremely impoverished now. Gatou has been strangling the life out of our economy for about a year now, that is why we are so desperately trying to complete this bridge. All our remaining funds have gone towards it. We don't have enough money to spare for high ranking protection as well. I. . . just want to build this bridge. For my home. They all deserve to be free of that man's clutches."

Hinata's gaze softened when Tazuna he mentioned his family, and hardened again when he mentioned Gatou. She turned to her sensei.

"Kakashi-sensei, we have to go with him and make sure this bridge is finished safely. Scum like Gatou, who prey upon the weak, cannot be allowed to do as they will!"

Kakashi was inclined to agree with her, despite what the rules were. He knew all too well what one got by blindly following rules. Still, if he didn't put up some sort of token resistance it'd be suspicious. "I'm not certain we should do this. This isn't the kind of mission genins should be on, even if we were to do it for such a reduced fee."

Tazuna looked like he'd stopped breathing when Kakashi said that. Until he gasped at Hinata's reply.

"I thought you were a jounin? At any rate, even if you aren't willing to continue the mission, me and Neji are. I'd rather risk my life than let Tazuna be sacrificed to a monster like Gatou." Kakashi glanced at Neji when she vouched for his actions, and noted his complete lack of reaction. She might as well have asked him step one pace to the right for all the thought he had needed to give it. Naruto was looking wide eyed, and more than a little pissed off. Kakashi was about to speak when Naruto interrupted him.

"I'll go with her as well. If this guy is half the scumbag Hinata says he is I want him to go scurrying under a rock. Besides, nobody deserves to be abandoned, no matter what situation they might be in."

That struck a note with Hinata and especially Kakashi. Kakashi visited the Konoha memorial every day he could, and he was sure more than any reasonable share of the names on that stone slab were shinobi that had been abandoned for ' the good of the village'.

Even Neji raised his brows at what Naruto had said. Both Hyuuga children had the same thought at that moment: _Naruto. . . was someone important to you abandoned as well? Is that why you're always so alone? _Both Neji and Hinata were quite expert at reading character traits from people's body language and behavior, and it didn't take an expert to know something was messed up with Naruto's life. To Neji and Hinata, he was an open book, and one that was painful to read. Neji tried not to think about it too much, but Hinata often worried about him. _As long as I have anything to do about it Naruto, neither you nor anyone else in the village is going to be forsaken._ _Have faith in us. _

Kakashi was a little annoyed that he would have to pretend he was caving in to their demands, but decided to give Tazuna a break. The poor bastard had certainly thought the genin's sentiments were heartwarming, but not exactly reassuring without being backed up by a jounin.

"Well, we'll probably get in a lot of trouble for this, but we're going to continue the mission. We should get going right away. It'll be a while before Gatou or whomever he's working through realizes those two failed, but once he finds out he'll send another attack, and probably one much more dangerous. Stay alert and don't slow down." _Ugh. This'll probably end up being an A rank mission before we're done. Oh well, that's what a jounin's for right? And I suppose the 'super-jounin' Kakashi deserves a challenge like trying to do an A-Rank mission while protecting 3 rookies as well. Well, at least I don't really have to worry about getting in trouble with Sarutobi about it; he'll probably be afraid to mention it in case I demand my usual A+ payment, hehe._

-------------------------------------------------------

Everyone had been edgy after the two chunin had attacked, but so far they hadn't been sensing anything. Once they had nearly gotten to Wave country Kakashi began sensing an enemy nearby, but decided not to give himself away, instead hoping to catch their 'ambusher' off guard. Kakashi hadn't counted on Naruto feeling especially jumpy however, nor did he suspect Naruto was, in fact, aware enough to have discovered Zabuza lurking in the trees before the rest of them.

"There!" Naruto shouted just after launching a kunai at the vague shadow he'd seen out of the corner of his eye. Neither Neji nor Hinata needed any more convincing than that. Before Naruto's kunai even struck the tree Neji and Hinata had activated their Byakugan and Neji had moved between Hinata and where Naruto had thrown the kunai, which he shortly realized wasn't where their incredibly fast and silent attacker was coming from. "Duck!" Hinata had already tackled Naruto to the ground as soon as she'd seen the massive sword thrown their way, and Kakashi hadn't needed the warning either, having knocked Tazuna to the ground as Neji had spoken. Naruto and Hinata got up in time to see Zabuza standing on the hilt of his massive sword imbedded in a tree behind him. Kakashi shoved Tazuna towards his genins and began sizing up Zabuza.

"So, Hidden Mist's missing-nin Momochi Zabuza was hired hmm? You guys stay out of this fight; he's far beyond your current abilities." The genin backed up around Tazuna in defensive positions, Neji staying especially close to Hinata, and all three kept their eyes fixed on Zabuza. "In fact, this might be difficult, unless I do this. . ." Everyone in the clearing skipped a beat as Kakashi lifted up the covering over his right eye. Of course, only Zabuza could see the Sharingan that had been revealed.

"So, it's 'Sharingan Kakashi' that's guarding the old man. I didn't really get payed enough for this, but it's an honour to see the legendary sharingan. I'm sorry, but the old man is still mine."

Neji and Hinata were both were wracking their brains as to how Kakashi could have the Sharingan. _Sasuke is the only living member of the Uchiha clan; it's impossible for Kakashi to possess the sharingan. And why would he have only one? Where did he get that demonic eye?_

"Surround and protect Tazuna, that's your only duty. Zabuza, first, you'll have to fight me."

"Whatever, it's time to end this talking, I need to kill that old man. I guess you're going to have to die first, 'Copy Ninja Kakashi'!"

Hinata recalled that title being mentioned on occasion in reference to some of the most difficult missions Konoha had handled in the last 10 years. _Could he really be THAT ninja? Just how powerful is he?_

Zabuza dashed off onto the water with his sword and performed his hidden mist jutsu.

"Momochi Zabuza is an expert on silent killing, it's said he kills people before they even realize they've been struck. So, you guys should, 'watch out'" Neji's face betrayed a little of his surprise at the implied instruction, but Hinata registered none. Nor did she have the visible reaction the other three had to the murderous intent in the air between Kakashi and Zabuza. Neji was barely holding himself together by concentrating on Hinata, and Hinata was well practiced at steeling herself against intimidating forces, but Naruto and Tazuna were terrified, like any sane person would be. Especially when they began to hear Zabuza whispering through the mist, listing the 8 vital points of instant death he could strike. Of course, Neji and Hinata had the added comfort of being able to see Zabuza perfectly well, along with his clone. Without turning, Neji threw a kunai with an attached explosive note over his shoulder into a tree near the water clone that was (relatively) slowly approaching them, blasting it and the nearby mist apart. Naruto nearly jumped out of his skin at that, but Hinata kept focused on the real Zabuza, who was approaching with unstoppable speed.

What followed happened so rapidly neither Neji nor Hinata could shout a warning to Kakashi far enough in advance to be of any help. Zabuza formed another water clone which killed Kakashi's water clone that was trying to defend the genins, then Zabuza's clone was killed by the real Kakashi, who was then attacked by the real Zabuza with a simple water blast using the water from the destroyed clones, launching him into the lake.

"I'm not just an expert in silent killing you fool. Unlike a simple imitation monkey like you, I have more than one card to play in a battle."

Zabuza was standing in front of Kakashi before he could get out of the water, and plunged his arm into the orb that quickly surrounded Kakashi.

"What the hell? What is this?" Kakashi struggled vainly against the unfamiliar technique.

"Hmmph, so you really are worthless when you can't copy an opponent's jutsus. Pathetic. This 'Water Prison' jutsu will keep you trapped while I kill off the old man and the kids. I don't know how the hell they noticed me earlier, but they obviously aren't strong enough to take out my water clones head on."

Said water clone had jumped out of the lake from behind Kakashi and was advancing towards the genin.

"Remember your duty you idiots! Take Tazuna away from here! Run! You can't do anything against him by yourselves!."

"Heh, what pointless advice you give your allies Kakashi, obviously I'll simply track them down and kill them after you're dead anyways."

Hinata steeled herself. "He's right. Besides, there's someone else waiting nearby as well. It's probably a trap anyways."

Zabuza would have looked very shocked at that moment if he'd had eyebrows. _They even found Haku? What the hell are those kids? _"Impressive brats you have Kakashi, but lets see how they fare against steel!"

Zabuza's clone launched his sword at the genin and charged at them at blinding speed. Neji and Naruto dived to the sides while Hinata jumped backwards and tackled Tazuna into the ground again, just barely avoiding the attack. However, she could see the clone closing upon her from behind and could tell she wasn't going to be able to react in time. _Is this the end. . . ?_

"Kawarimi-Kuchiyose no jutsu!" Hinata began to open her mouth to scream 'no' as she heard Neji speak the name of the technique, but felt herself being ripped away before she could let anything out. She was dumped, temporarily dazed, to the side, where Neji had been moments before.

Neji on the other hand, was ready and waiting when he arrived at his cousin's former position, albeit rather drained. Still, he had the element of surprise against the simple 'minded' water clone, which was suddenly trying to attack an armed genin facing it on his feet instead of a prone one facing away. It slammed one hand onto Neji's face, and attempted to drown him. Barely aware of the water being forced into his lungs, Neji simply began striking the bunshin's most important focal points of chakra over and over again, causing it to collapse into a harmless puddle. Neji then began violently coughing up water as Hinata and Naruto rushed to his aid.

"Neji! Are you alright? I asked you to never use. . ."

Neji waved her off as he finished coughing up the brunt of the water. "You also said I'd never need to use it. I think though, it might be our last chance. Do you think you can-"

Naruto interrupted them with a mass Kagebunshin in reaction to the two additional water clones that were now headed towards the group. "If you've got a plan, just do it!"

Neji snapped his focus away from the awe inspiring number of shadow clones he'd just seen produced and turned back towards Hinata. "Just get Kakashi's blood on 'it', that's our only chance."

Hinata nodded as he dashed off towards Kakashi. "Neji don't push yourself too far, I'm still going to need you after this is over." She barely whispered the words before pulling out the dagger with her and Neji's blood on it that Neji made her keep on her person at all times. The pseudo summoning technique he had partially recovered from one of the scrolls from their family library was an odd one; it allowed the user to switch places with someone nearby. In lieu of a proper contract, a special kunai with the blood of both the user and the target had to be kept on the target's person. Additionally, the range of the technique was rather limited; someone of Neji's caliber could only stretch it to perhaps 50 feet in the best of circumstances, and even the 12 or so feet he had just swapped across was intensely draining, since the chakra forming was quite sloppy compared to the intricate control allowed with a standard summoning technique using many seals and a great deal of time, as well as lacking a proper contract using the summoned entity's chakra in addition. However, it could be performed nearly instantly, and was one of the most effective, albeit often suicidal, techniques a bodyguard could possibly have in his arsenal.

Zabuza's clones were pulverizing Naruto's at an impressive rate, but the sheer number of them as well as the decidedly defensive, almost Hyuuga like style Naruto's clones were employing allowed them to last long enough to give Neji a clear path to the real Zabuza.

"Kakashi, I'm trusting you with our last chance, you'd better protect her better than I would."

Kakashi had no time to reply as several things happened at once. First, Neji dodged low to the ground and to the right, which Zabuza couldn't immediately turn to with his right arm stuck in the water prison, and the imperative act of dodging the odd dagger thrown by Hinata being necessary. The dagger buried itself entirely in the thick water behind him, still a good foot away from Kakashi. Zabuza was about to make a snide remark about such a weak attack being unworthy of a ninja when a rough spear of air forced him to resume his dodge. Aiming at the same spot she was already focused on without needing to make it a deadly sharp spear made aiming the technique easy for Hinata, and it served it's purpose flawlessly. The blast of air slammed into the globe of water causing a surge to force the dagger forward and scrape along Kakashi's arm. Before Kakashi could swear he was standing on dry land, with Zabuza turned partly away from him, right hand buried in the water prison that now held Neji.

Of course, Kakashi's reaction and recovery time weren't even in the same league as Hinata's. He launched into an attack instantly, causing Zabuza to drop the prison and jump away, beginning to form the seals to a powerful water jutsu, while his two clones, having bashed Naruto senseless into a tree, turned away from an exhausted Hinata whom they'd been about to kill and began flanking Kakashi. As Zabuza completed his technique, Kakashi leaped over him in a somersault, dodging it and using the same technique to destroy the two clones that had been behind him an instant ago. Throwing some shurikens to ward off a direct attack while he landed, Kakashi and Zabuza both began performing more seals, Kakashi more quickly at first, but then slowing down. Zabuza finished first, calling up an immense water dragon which began rushing at Kakashi. As soon as he did though, Kakashi finished the last 3 seals of his technique at triple speed, causing a massive crescent of water to shoot out of the lake, slicing the dragon in half. The crescent then broke down into 6 smaller blades of water, and swarmed around Zabuza, striking him from every angle. He managed to avoid being killed outright by the assault, but was still grievously wounded enough that he obviously wasn't going to live longer than a few more hours at most without being healed, let alone being able to fight.

"You knew I'd copied over a thousand techniques. . . Did you honestly believe none of them were water jutsus?"

Zabuza didn't get a chance to reply, as a pair of needles fell from a nearby tree and pierced his neck, along with a masked hunter nin who crouched alongside the body.

"Heh, even I suspected that much, otherwise I'd have had to kill Zabuza here before he showed you anything."

"So you were a Hidden Mist hunter-nin, rather than his ally. We'll leave you to your business, we don't have any quarrel with Hidden Mist."

Haku merely nodded as Kakashi staggered off to gather up his exhausted allies and finish the trek into town. Haku vanished away with Zabuza's body, trying to get far enough away so that even the Byakugan couldn't find him, though neither Neji nor Hinata had the energy left to keep that up for the purposes of simply spying on someone that was supposedly an ally anyways.

Haku whispered down at his mentor as he bandaged his limbs. "Zabuza-san, I think those two, they might be like me. . ."

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

**AN: **I love writing Kakashi in fight scenes. Pretty much nothing is off limits for the guy that knows a thousand techniques. For the Naruto fans out there, I'm sorry if he wasn't as shiny in this chapter as you might have hoped. Not having a nasty rivalry to motivate him means he's going to be a bit slower to take off than usual in this fic, but I promise he'll pick up a lot later on. For now, the whole Byakugan vs. Mist technique thing is just too much to ignore.


	7. Chapter 7 Melting the Ice

**Dutiful Eyes**

By Stormlock

----------------------------------

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto. (Who reads these anyways?.)

----------------------------------

**AN:** Took longer than I expected, but I came up with some good ideas so it's all good.

---------------------------------------

Team 7 arrived at Tazuna's home without any further interruptions. Fortunately, nobody had been seriously injured, with Neji being arguably the worst off out of the group by chakra depletion. Kakashi was nearly as exhausted, but hadn't used his sharingan too much; and aside from that the only really big technique he had used was his counter to Zabuza's dragon at the end of the fight; all the other techniques were mid level ones that didn't expend too much chakra on their own. Still both Kakashi and Neji would spent most of their first few days at Tazuna's home resting. Kakashi had told Tazuna to stay with them; after all, a man like Gatou could afford to hire an endless number of missing nins. Even if they weren't all of Zabuza's caliber, Tazuna would be just as dead if caught unaware.

At the end of their first day in town, Naruto picked the less than stellar opportunity of dinner time to ask about hunter-nins. His teammates mentally reminded themselves to inform him to avoid topics such as body dismemberment while eating in the future.

". . . so that's why that hunter-nin we encountered finished off Zabuza; to protect the secrets of the village." Naruto shuddered at Hinata's explanation. Would _he _be destroyed like that if he died in battle, to protect the secrets of the Kyuubi?

"Well, I suppose it'd be a hard job to stomach but I guess it's pretty easy to destroy a defenseless body with a jutsu anyways huh?"

Naruto's question caused Kakashi to be startled with an uneasy revelation. He hadn't been allowed to read his book at the dinner table, so he'd just been sort of daydreaming. That ended when Naruto inadvertently pointed out that the hunter-nin child had not, in fact, simply destroyed Zabuza's body with a jutsu. Kakashi had been too exhausted and concerned about his team to pay much attention at the time, but it seemed like the child had actually ran off with the body.

"Hinata, check our surroundings. Now." A suddenly alert Hinata complied, activating her Byakugan and scanning the area near the house. Neji became alert as well and shot his teacher a questioning look. Naruto gaped and shot him a question.

"Hey! What's the deal? Did you notice something??"

"I just remembered that the 'hunter-nin' I saw didn't actually destroy the body while I was looking. I made a mistake in not paying enough attention, so it's quite likely he actually carried Zabuza away to safety, and hadn't actually killed him in the first place." Kakashi's mellow tone of voice served to irritate the boys sitting at the table, and Naruto, Neji and Tazuna replied simultaneously with a furious "What?!?" as Hinata finished her check.

"There's nothing suspicious nearby Kakashi-sensei. Are you certain Zabuza is still alive? Maybe destroying the body in private is part of their customs."

"Well, I can't exactly be certain, but I've got a bad feeling about the whole thing. Especially since Zabuza was 'killed' by a weapon like those needles. Those aren't actually very deadly, and even apparently vital spots can be missed by a very small degree and actually cause almost no damage at all."

Hinata nodded at her sensei's assessment. She knew a fair amount about vital points like that and even had some training with acupuncture needles like what Kakashi had described. While it was entirely possible to produce deadly results with a weapon like that, it was also entirely possible to only seem to do so, or to produce other effects entirely.

Kakashi waved his hand like the whole thing was about as important as a nickel of change on a dinner bill. "At any rate, he was still severely injured after our battle, so I don't think he'll be coming after us this soon anyways. I just wanted to make sure we weren't being spied upon. He will be back though, make no mistake, that man has an ugly reputation. He killed more people than most chunin ever do before he was even a genin. He's also known as the 'Demon of Hidden Mist'. We were lucky to have gotten off without anyone being injured."

"Nobody injured my ass! My head felt like it was going to fall off after he threw me into that tree!" Naruto wasn't very happy about his injury being written off as just a little bump.

"That didn't even leave a bruise you wimp. Quit whining about that." Naruto was about to respond to Neji's dismissal with some choice insults he'd thought up that afternoon when Inari spoke up. Only Hinata had noticed him coming home.

"Hey mom, who are these guys?"

"These are the ninjas who protected your grandpa on his way back here Inari. They defeated that scary guy they were just talking about, so you don't have to worry."

"Next time they'll probably all die. I bet Gatou will just get a dozen guys like that."

"Inari! That's a horrible thing to say!"

"It's a total load of crap too! We're heroes kid, we'll beat whatever some stupid rich old geezer throws at us!" Naruto's confident expression just made Inari angry.

"You're more of a kid than I am if you believe in things like heroes. You should all just leave if you want to live."

"That's not true Inari, real heroes do exist. My father was a hero; he saved our whole country from a war." Everyone's eyes moved to Hinata when she said that. Kakashi only knew the official generic story of how her father had died nobly protecting the village somehow, but hadn't heard that he had saved the whole _country_. Neji was just surprised she was talking about her father. For all the time she spent thinking about him and trying to live up to his legacy, she almost never mentioned him, to the point that it was unofficially considered a taboo subject around her. Everyone else in the room of course had no idea who her father was at all, aside from Naruto having a vague idea that her family was important.

Inari narrowed his eyes at her. "_Was_ a hero huh? So, he left you all alone didn't he?" With that, Inari went up to his room. Nobody said a word. After a moment, Hinata got up and quietly announced she was going for a walk. Neji looked torn, but decided to leave her alone. After a minute a chagrined Neji heard Naruto tell everyone he was going to go keep an eye on her. _I'm supposed to be protecting her, why am I leaving that to Naruto all of the sudden? _He couldn't come up with an answer, but neither could he come up with the will to go after her. Somehow it just seemed like he'd end up hurting both himself and his cousin.

------------------------------------------------------

Naruto caught up to Hinata just after she reached the woods nearby. They were much more lively than the woods around Konoha, with more trees and wildlife. Hinata stopped and waited when she noticed Naruto was coming up behind her, looking around at the forest. She couldn't quite manage to keep up her usual steely resolve, and seemed frail somehow.

"Naruto, why is it that you're always alone when you're not with us?" The question stopped Naruto in his tracks just as he was about to come up alongside Hinata. He sure as hell wasn't ready for a question like _that_.

"Well, because nobody wants me around I guess. Everyone seems to think I'm useless or out to get them. I don't have a family either, so I'm just left alone."

She nodded and turned to face him. "I'm alone for a different reason."

"But, you never seem to be left alone! Neji's always with you, and other people seem to like you as well, you're more popular than most girls I think."

"But aside from Neji, those people don't like me. They like the girl they imagine I am. I'm the heiress of the Hyuuga clan, you knew that right?"

Naruto merely nodded.

"You probably don't really understand, but the Hyuuga clan is very famous in Konoha, so we get a lot of attention. Especially me. However, it's not the kind of attention you'd pay to someone you like or care about, but the kind of attention you'd give to something you're afraid of, like a dog that might bite you. Everyone in the village knows about the powerful 'Gentle Fist' technique of the Hyuuga, but those Hyuuga who were brilliant doctors are forgotten. People avoid us unless they want to manipulate our power, in which case they quickly flee after failing. I don't think I've seen anyone outside the clan besides you genuinely get to know me as a friend. Everyone else learns about me behind my back, without ever asking me what I care about, or what I like to eat, or what music I listen to. Nobody cares about those things because they don't see me as a person, but as an heir; a piece of the clan. I think it is like that for my father too. All they know is that someone who led the clan did something important; his own name wouldn't mean anything to them. As a person, everything he did belongs to the clan, and he'll never be recognized for any of it. Since he died, everything he did partially belongs to me now, since the head of the clan is the vessel for it's prestige. I find myself acting as the heir to the clan more often than as myself, so maybe people are justified in treating me that way. But it makes me wonder if my father was like that too, if he did things because that's what the clan should do, instead of it being what he wanted to do."

"From what Inari said. . . did your father die saving everyone?"

"Maybe. I don't know if it's my father that died to save everyone, or the head of the clan. If it's the latter, it's as though the clan killed my father for it's purpose."

"But, you knew how your father really was right?"

"Yes. I was only 3 when he died, but I'm sure he cared about me very much."

"Then he'd both want to be with you and to protect you, so why wouldn't his intention and that of the clan be the same if he can't do both?"

"But, he could have done both. My father could have only protected me and kept himself alive."

"But, then you wouldn't have a family or village right? It's not the same for me, but I notice everyone in the village has a lot of friends, and their families too. He probably thought that having all that was more important than just having him right?"

"Maybe. But my father was the head of the clan, so he must have known what it's like to have the position, that nobody would really be my friend. And besides-" Naruto cut her off as she was about to explain that her father could have lived and protected both her and the country by sacrificing someone else.

"Then, maybe you're wrong about that."

Hinata looked for a moment like she'd had a bucket of water tossed in her face. Nobody ever told her she was wrong.

"Maybe your father knew how to escape being controlled by the clan. Or maybe he just didn't care, and acted however he wanted, and made the clan follow him. That's what I always thought being a leader of something meant; whatever you're leading belongs to you, not the other way around."

"But I know my father always made the clan happy, and did things they wanted him to do. You can't just behave however you want and make everyone agree with you automatically."

"Are you really sure? Maybe they just pretend to like whatever he did because _they_ are the ones being controlled by the clan that your father shaped. Maybe that's the secret to being a leader; making people follow your example despite themselves. Of course, a bastard would make a really rotten clan if he did that, but someone could turn a rotten clan into a nice one too."

Suddenly Hinata remembered her first autonomous act as heir to the clan: Her insistence of Hizashi's position as temporary clan leader and her guardian. She hadn't thought of bowing to the clan at that time, only what she had wanted, no- _needed_. There had been no unwanted repercussions to what she had done; the clan had bent to her will, when she was only three. _I've had that power all along and not realized it, letting the clan push me around on all but the most important matters. I've never realized my true responsibility is using that power to guide the clan._ _My father must have assumed I'd have known that all along. _Hinata suddenly felt ashamed, she'd taken this long to realize her true duty wasn't to be a figurehead for the clan, but it's true head, guiding it and protecting it with all her will.

"But then again, I guess even if you control the clan if people still don't know the real you, then it doesn't matter, so I guess what I said doesn't make much sense anyways."

"No, you're absolutely right Naruto. I've been as blind to my true self as everyone else. I _can_ control the clan, instead of the other way around. I spent so long trying to be the embodiment of the clan my father made, I didn't realize that I could make the clan the embodiment of _me_. And if the clan is a reflection of myself, rather than the other way around, then I can happily accept being thought of simply the same as the clan."

"I don't think I could ever do something like that. I mean, I'd probably screw something up and turn the clan into pranksters or something, hehe."

Hinata smiled at Naruto with a confidence in her eyes that hadn't been there since she was three. Her _own_ confidence. "I'm not afraid. After all, my father and his clan believe in me."

"Me too."

-----------------------------------------------

When Hinata got back Neji noted she seemed to be feeling better than she had in years. He couldn't actually remember the last time she looked so strong. Everyone had finished eating and cleaned up by the time she had returned with Naruto, and they were talking about Gatou and the bridge. Hinata however, had something she needed to do, and so derailed their conversation.

"What happened to Inari's father?" She moved her pupiless eyes to the torn picture on the wall as she asked.

Tazuna told them the story of how Kaiza had met Inari and become Tsunami's husband, and how he had later saved the town from and flood and then gotten killed by Gatou. Hinata's teammates noted how much more _alive_ she seemed to be as she listened to the story, showing much more emotion than her usual empty mask.

"I need to talk to Inari, where is he?" Hinata didn't intend to let the kid live on the way he was. If nobody else could make him feel differently, than she'd do it herself.

Tsunami spoke hesitantly. "He's probably upstairs in his room. He sometimes likes to watch the ocean from the balcony there. But he usually asks to be left alone. . ."

Hinata just nodded and left the room to go see him. She found him where his mother had said he'd be, staring out at the ocean with a picture gripped in his right hand.. She came up right behind him without being noticed.

"Your father was a hero too Inari." Hinata could tell he had been crying when he turned around. He was startled too, but too angry about his father to let that faze him.

"I suppose they told you some lame story about how he was brave and saved people huh? Did you know he was a dirty liar too? He told me he'd protect us, that he wouldn't let Gatou bully us around. Then he gets himself killed and leaves his family all alone. Just so he didn't have to live with any regrets!"

Hinata slapped Inari, hard, and took the photo from him, turning it so he could see it.

"This man saved your life! He saved this entire town. _Twice._ First from a flood that would have wiped out countless homes and people, and again from Gatou. You wouldn't have a home if your father hadn't stood up to that monster. This town would be nothing more than a slum for Gatou's criminals to lord over right now. And now your grandfather is risking his life too, to build a bridge that will protect this city from that man. Other people are fighting back too, all because of Kaiza. You're a disgrace if you can't respect your own father for doing these things. I won't let you dishonor such a brave man by saying such things about him!"

Inari was awestruck. Hinata couldn't have been more imposing if she were seven feet tall and on fire. He knew some people, like his grandfather, believed his dad was a hero even though he'd died, but he'd never seen anyone defend him so passionately. And she wasn't even from here! She'd never been protected by him. She was just defending someone she thought deserved respect. Defending a 'hero'.

Naruto had entered the room a moment ago, unnoticed by either of them, and now spoke himself.

"She's right you know. That's the kind of guy everyone should try to be. I'd fight alongside a man like that any time. Maybe not everyone can have the guts to fight with everything they have, but anyone who does, for the things he needs to protect, that's a real hero. That's a person worth recognizing. The only reason there isn't a statue of that guy in the middle of the city is because of that scumbag Gatou. A whiny selfish brat on the other hand; that's a person that might as well not exist. That kind of person doesn't even deserve to be recognized at all."

"So what? You guys think it's ok to just abandon people to be respected?"

Hinata replied to that first. "If he really died just to be seen as a hero he'd be lower than dirt in my eyes. But he wasn't trying to be a hero or get attention, he was just trying to protect his family. And even though he died, his actions and the memory of them have protected this city from Gatou better than anyone else has this entire time."

"Besides," Naruto added "Aren't you the one who's abandoned your father, and even your grandfather, just to be pitied? What makes you think you're worse off without him than he is without you?"

"But I didn't choose to have him die!"

"Neither did he. That was Gatou's choice. Your choice is whether or not to remember him well."

Hinata handed the photo back to Inari and left with Naruto. Inari turned back to the ocean, but could only stare at the photo in his hand.


	8. Chapter 8 More Dangerous than Anything

**Dutiful Eyes**

By Stormlock

----------------------------------

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto. (I got this really cool shiny rock though.)

**A/N:** Sorry for taking so long for this update. Life has gotten very busy, so I haven't had the time and energy to write much of anything for quite a while. However, that doesn't mean I don't still think about the fic all the time, so now I'm just like 6 chapters ahead on my planning P. (Actually, I had some more thoughts while starting to write this chapter, and now have the rest of this fic and the start of a direct sequel plotted out.) Since this chapter is much later than I'd been planning, I decided to go ahead and make it extra long. Anyways, I know a lot of you have been looking forward to this chapter, so enjoy!

----------------------------------

After the first day Kakashi could no longer convince Tazuna to wait for his protection to recover fully before restarting work on the bridge. So, Kakashi came up with a schedule. He and Neji would protect Tazuna together, since neither of them were really strong enough to actively participate in any sort of training. Neji was rather upset at this until Kakashi told him they could pass the time discussing jutsu theory, and Neji decided to make use of Kakashi's knowledge to figure out the Hakke technique. Kakashi certainly seemed adept at reading his opponent's next move, so maybe he'd help Neji perfect the technique. Hinata and Naruto were told to remain with Tazuna's family (another prime target for Gatou, Neji had pointed out when he was trying to convince Kakashi to let him stay behind with Hinata) and train. When pressed by Naruto as to how they should train exactly (Specifically, he said "What kind of lame ass teacher are you anyways, that never helps us train? I don't know what to do by myself!") Kakashi recommended the tree climbing exercise, which Hinata instantly recognized and she said she could show Naruto how it worked.

With that, Tazuna headed off with Kakashi and Neji (Already badgering Kakashi about his fight with Zabuza for more details) in tow, leaving Hinata and a somewhat puzzled Naruto behind.

"So, what the hell is this 'tree climbing' exercise? I can already climb trees!"

Hinata giggled a bit at that comment. "I'm going to teach you how to climb trees using your chakra to hold on instead of your hands. It's an exercise that teaches good chakra control. Thats why I already know it, the jyuuken wouldn't work at all without this kind of control.

Hinata demonstrated her ability by walking over to and ten feet up the trunk of the nearest tree of appropriate size. After explaining the technical aspect of it (which Naruto half understood) she told him to give it a shot, only while running to get an extra boost to start up the tree.

Naruto backed up a goodly distance and took a mad dash at the tree before jumping up and planting his feet on it. He made about two steps before his initial momentum wore out and another one before his tenuous grip failed and his foot slipped. Hinata ran a few steps down the trunk and caught him by the wrist before he fell.

"Gah! This is way harder than it looks! I can barely hold on at all!"

Hinata was inwardly thinking the same thing. For someone so short, Naruto was _heavy_. _But, climbing will be even more exhausting for him while he's just learning, so I should be able to keep this up till he gets worn out._

"Here, just try getting your feet to stick while I'm supporting you. You don't need to do it perfectly this way, just grip as best you can to help yourself climb."

Naruto nodded while trying to focus as best he could. He wanted to get good enough to do this without Hinata's help, he felt bad for making her waste her time helping him with what was probably a simply exercise. After a about fifteen minutes, Hinata told him they had to stop, as her arms and legs were getting sore from the constant deadweight. Naruto wasn't too happy about this, but didn't want to push his friend and didn't think he'd learn very quickly by simply falling down over and over again..In the short period of time they'd been trying for, Naruto's grip had improved from supporting maybe 5 kilos of his weight to about 10 kilos, but with the leverage of his whole body hanging off the trunk like that, just standing there like Hinata would mean he'd need to be able to support probably twice his body weight. When he thought about how Hinata was helping him, he realized she must have an amazing level of control to be able to support that much weight in that manner for so long.

Hinata was somewhat puzzled. She knew from Naruto's sparring with Neji that he was a pretty fast learner. Even if he didn't have as much talent for chakra control as he did for taijutsu he still should have progressed faster than this. She had expected him to be mostly supporting his own weight be now, she'd been planning on having the session last for an hour or more. However, although she still had some chakra left, physically Hinata was completely drained. _Hmmmm._

"Naruto, I'm going to try something different. You try running up the tree by yourself, I'll watch you with my Byakugan to see if I can figure out what you're doing wrong. Just be careful to land safely!"

Naruto nodded, eager to get back to practicing. He began repeated attempts (and failures) to scale the tree. He was too focused on his feet to notice Hinata's furrowed brow.

_What the hell? His chakra coils are all weird. I remember they looked a bit funny when I saw him sparring with Neji, but. . . it's like his chakra system doesn't belong to a human or something. Parts of it are more like the system in a dog or cat or something._ _I wonder why Neji never mentioned it. . ._

Hinata was startled out of her thoughts by a particularly bad loss of balance from Naruto, who managed to save himself from a nasty fall by quickly grabbing the trunk with one of his hands, temporarily holding on with his two feet and a hand before letting himself fall to the ground safely. Hinata did a double take. _He can barely manage to hold on with one foot at a time but using three points at once he can hold on easily? That doesn't make sense. . . it's much more difficult to control chakra from multiple tenketsu at once than focusing on a single one. _Hinata was puzzled. Even just holding on to the tree with two feet at once required total proficiency with this exercise. But _catching_ yourself from falling with three points at once? Even she'd be hard pressed to do that. It would be far easier for her to just catch herself with one foot or better yet a hand if she needed to. That's why genin were taught to do this exercise by running up the tree. While running, one never has both feet on the surface at once, so it's much simpler to focus on one foot at a time. Even if hands are easier to use chakra from than feet, using both at once should be far more difficult. _Well, if it works for him . . ._

"Hey Naruto, can you climb up that tree over there if you use your hands and feet together, slowly?" Hinata pointed out an especially smooth large tree nearby. He'd have basically no physical grip on it at all, so he'd have to depend on his chakra entirely for the climbing.

"Sure, I'll give that a shot!" A slightly confused Naruto ran over to the tree and attempted the climb. To his surprise, he could actually manage it. He'd thought it would be too slippery to get a grip on, but he found that he could just barely manage the ascent by staying close to the tree and using as much of his body as possible. He looked like a clumsy bug trying to climb up a vertical wall of glass, inching along while just barely supporting his weight.

Hinata was extremely impressed. She probably couldn't do a whole lot better than that using that kind of method. She didn't even want to try with her sore limbs. It also occurred to her that using three or four points at once like that would drain chakra much faster too, which was another reason to do it with only the feet. Naruto would still need to learn the proper way to climb, but it looked like she'd found a good way for him to get his feet wet, so to speak.

"Way to go Naruto!" Hinata cheered for him when he finally got to a branch fifteen feet up. A bashful Naruto flashed a big grin and waved down at her.

-----------------------------

After a few days Kakashi and Neji were feeling back up to par, and Naruto was climbing up trees like a spider, to the bewilderment of his comrades, who couldn't fathom using such an odd climbing style so effectively.

"Well, it's certainly impressive, but you really need to learn the normal way of doing it too Naruto." Kakashi's lukewarm response to Naruto's achievement put a damper on his mood. Still, he had progressed faster than expected, and Hinata had told him he'd need to learn the proper way as well eventually from the very begining.

"Anyways, now that me and Neji are feeling better, I think it's time he starts training with you as well. I'll keep an eye on Tazuna by myself from now on."

Neji was happy to get back to his training and be around Hinata again, but Hinata noticed a wrinkle with the plan.

"But, wouldn't it be best if either me or Neji were there to protect Tazuna-san as well? We're the only ones who won't be affected by Zabuza's mist techniques.

"Hmm, I guess you have a point. Maybe you should come with me then, I said I'd help you with that technique anyways right?"

"Alright. Neji, you can help Naruto finish his training right?" Hinata gave him a very effective puppy-dog eyes look and he immediately agreed. He was somewhat annoyed at being separated from his cousin yet again, but he at least felt much better with Kakashi there to protect her instead of Naruto.

Neji turned to Naruto after waving to Kakashi and Hinata.

"So, I can see you can climb up pretty fast that way, but how well can you climb while running up instead?"

Naruto nervously displayed his decidedly mediocre skill using the normal method. It wasn't nearly as abysmal as when he'd started, but he could still only get about 12 feet on average before losing too much momentum and beginning to fall.

Neji was somewhat annoyed. He wanted to practice some of the things he'd discussed with Kakashi concerning prediction of enemy movements. Kakashi's method was entirely different than the Hakke of course, but still had a lot of relevant information he could make use of. Neji felt he could finally pull off the technique with the things he'd learned, if he could put them to use. But he wasn't going to get much practice at all if Naruto needed this much help.

Then Neji remembered something Hinata had mentioned to him last night about Naruto's training. She had mentioned his stamina to him. Neji already knew quite well how much energy Naruto had from their sparring sessions, but Hinata hadn't quite realized how resilient the blonde was until she saw him training like that Maybe if he made use of that stamina he could speed things up.

"Hey Naruto, Hinata's been helping you climb when you climb normally right, to make it easier for you?"

"Well yeah, it made it a lot easier to figure out the basics if I could stay on the tree instead of starting and stopping constantly."

"Well, I suppose that's a good way to start training, but if you always practice with a crutch like that, it limits your potential."

"I guess you're right about that, I mean, I ended up getting really good climbing on all fours without her help. That practice was really the only reason I can climb with just two feet at all."

"Well, there's a way to take that even further you know. You've heard of weight training right? Training with weights on so you can perform even better when you take them off?"

Naruto looked excited at this topic. "Oh yeah! I always wanted to try that! But all the crappy weights I buy always end up breaking and stuff if I train very hard! Do you got some of the better ones I could use?

_That's not what I meant at all. . . _"Umm, no."

A downcast Naruto replied. "Oh. Then what?"

"Well, you need to train you chakra control, so I'll give you 'weights' for that instead." Naruto was clearly puzzled at this concept.

"Err, what?"

"I'll use my Jyuuken to mess with your chakra a little bit. If you can learn how to climb like that, then you'll be able to do it easily." _And I won't need to put in much attention while he trains that way since a slow progress rate this way will equate to a lot of real progress once he's back to normal._

"Well, I'll give it a shot. Fire away!"

With a smirk, Neji activated his Byakugan and tapped Naruto a few times, slightly cutting off the chakra flow to his feet. He didn't want to overdo it after all.

"Okay, now try."

Naruto nodded and made a dash for the nearest tree, and, to the surprise of both of them, made it up 25 feet on his first try. After a few more attempts after readjusting to his newly limited chakra he managed to get all the way to 40 feet, nearly the top of the tree. At that point the swaying of the tree became a major issue so he couldn't really proceed, but he was good enough now that he could run up and down the tree proficiently.

"I think you screwed up. That was WAY easier than normal."

_What a weirdo. He's been using too much chakra this entire time. Normally everyone uses too little._ _He's only screwing up because he overdoes it and can't make it steady enough for even a footstep in the long run. Well, this is an easy enough fix._

"Alright, come back over here, I'll try something different, since it seems you're actually using too much chakra and not climbing steadily enough, I'll make your system push even more chakra than normal to your feet, so you'll have to try really hard to control it."

After a few precise strikes, Neji sent Naruto off to try again. This time he didn't even make it to the tree. His gait became wobbly and he fell over on his way there, tumbling to a stop on the roots.

"What the hell! I can't even run normally now!"

"Perfect. You don't even need to use the trees then, so it won't be dangerous. Just practice running around normally. Once you can do that perfectly, I'll mess your legs up a bit more and we'll keep doing that until we need to stop, then we can check to see how well you can climb the trees normally."

After practicing for a while, Neji decided to try and incorporate his own training into his comrade's. He and Naruto played tag, with Neji obviously not giving it his all playing as 'it' and chasing around Naruto, who was struggling just to stay upright while putting on a decent chase. In fact, he'd frequently fall forward and bounce himself back up into the air from his hands and continue running without skipping a beat. Neji had seen him do things of that nature while sparring, so it wasn't too much of a surprise. Once in a while Neji would close in and 'try' to tag Naruto, while attempting to read his movements, testing various tells and responses to figure Naruto out. Of course, being able to read Naruto perfectly wouldn't mean he could use the technique, since that required being able to read _anyone_'s movements after just a minute or two of familiarization. Still, Neji was able to practice the fundamentals somewhat, and it was certainly better than no training at all. At one point Naruto hit upon the idea of using kagebunshins to distract or obstruct Neji. This, of course, delighted Neji, who finally had something approaching a challenge in their little game.

Eventually however, the strain of making kagebunshins with a messed up chakra system was too much and Naruto conceded that he needed a break. Neji had him check his tree climbing progress after fixing him and it was markedly better once he readjusted to his normal state.

------------------------

After a few more days of training Naruto was an excellent tree climber, and Neji had become proficient enough at reading movements on Naruto to play an even match of tag even when he forced himself to move as slowly as Naruto and let himself be outnumbered three to one. Kakashi was also feeling back up to par, and reached the decision that they should focus on protecting Tazuna from that point on, since Zabuza was likely to have recovered by now as well. They were doubly alert after capturing a couple of samurai lurking around Tazuna's residence thanks to the Byakugan. Their worries were grimly confirmed when they found Tazuna's workers massacred on the bridge that morning.

". . . This is horrible. . ." Hinata's words cut through the silence around them effortlessly, even as the fog began to close in around the five of them.

"Stay close to Tazuna, don't forget protecting him is our priority." Tazuna was just about to recover enough from his shock to reply to Kakashi's statement when Zabuza's water clones closed in on them from the mist.However, both Neji and Hinata had seen them coming well in advance through the mist. Hinata too out one of them with a bullet of wind through it's face before it even saw them. Neji took out another one in a similiar manner using shuriken, and Kakashi took out the rest as they went after several very convincing Tazuna clones made courtesy of Naruto, who had made it a point to learn how to emulate Tazuna well enough for an ideal decoy during the last two days. When the water finished falling to the ground, Zabuza was standing at the end of a corridor cleared through the mist, so Naruto and Kakashi could see him. (And he could see them, in order to fight at least somewhat effectively with the water clones.)

"Well Kakashi, your students are better than I gave them credit for. But I'm not allowing retreat to be an option for me this time. Tazuna must die here today. And this time, Haku's not just going to watch any more."

"Zabuza, let me take care of his students, if that's alright. You can concentrate on Kakashi."

"Don't want them to die fighting me Haku? Well, it's all the same to me as long as our bounty is killed off. Just don't go too soft on them."

Realizing that Haku would be concentrating on the three of them, Neji and Naruto dashed towards him, hoping to keep Hinata and Tazuna out of the crossfire. Hinata realized that at least one of them needed to stay by Tazuna's side, and was left behind quickly, accompanied only by a couple of Naruto's Tazuna clones.

Neji decided his best option was to go all out to end this as quickly as possible to press their advantage in numbers against Zabuza once more. He began a furious hand to hand exchange with Neji, both of them dodging around so rapidly that Naruto couldn't throw any punches without risking hitting Neji instead of Haku. Eventually they were a good three hundred feet away from Tazuna and Kakashi, who were just barely visible in the slightly thinned mist. Zabuza was completely hidden somewhere within a particularly thick shroud near the edge of the bridge.

Neji was grinning. He'd managed to disable most of the tenketsu on Haku's left arm. Haku clearly realized something was wrong with it, but didn't seem as worried as he should be. _Maybe he doesn't realize he can't perform any jutsus now with his hand like that._

_Perfect. He doesn't realize I don't need that hand to perform my jutsu. _Neji realized his opponent was attempting a jutsu with a single hand when his chakra quickly molded, but was a little to late in noticing the dozens of needles it had created resting on the ground, that suddenly shot upward towards Neji. Fortunately for Neji, Naruto, being further from the fight and having given up on trying to read their actual combat well enough to interfere, had noticed the strange rippling and shaping of the water before hand, and moved to tackle Neji as soon as he saw Haku's hand forming seals. Neji went with it and the two of them fell well clear of all the needles that had shot up into the air. Instead of falling though, the needles dissipated into droplets and hovered there.

"I can't risk going easy on you two. Forgive me." By the time the two of them realized they had just fallen into a trap rather than evaded one. Haku's mirrors were set up all around them. As Neji tried to make sense of the bizzare display of chakra, ice and mirrors his Byakugan was giving him, needles began to fall upon the two of them from every angle. Neji had trained especially for the purpose of defending someone smaller than himself from projectiles like this, and Naruto was making himself one hell of an impossible target, but with the two of them trapped with so little room to evade, Haku's needles were finding their marks far more often than not. Haku was concentrating most of his attacks on Naruto, since that used up Neji's energy trying to protect him as well, and it seemed impossible to get a surprise shot in on Neji anyways.

_This is very bad. My techniques are worthless here. I can tell which mirror he's in and predict his attacks easily enough, but he moves way too fast for me to keep up. And our injuries are piling up._ Neji was covered in grazing scratches, and although Naruto seemed oddly free of wounds like that, he was starting to look like a pin cushion, and it was obvious that every move he made was painful now, with all the needles interfering.

"It seems I was right, the two of you are like me. Weaker shinobi would have surrendered by now."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Naruto's ragged voice was eerie after the wordless cacophony of striking needles and cries of pain. Neji's thoughts had changed from trying to end this to go and help Kakashi to just stalling long enough for Kakashi to come to their aid.. _Might as well get him talking if we can_.

"You mean blood limits? Normally people can't use ice jutsu's, and my eyes are probably pretty obviously beyond normal at this point.."

"No, thats what Zabuza thought too when I told him. I mean the way you fight. All three of us fight to protect someone precious to us. That's why I can't just go easy on you.I know you'll do anything to beat me. That's a lot more dangerous than any blood line."

_I suppose he's right about that. If only I had something to beat him with. . . The only thing I have that might even have a chance to take him out are my explosive tags. But even if he let me ignite one, I'd take out both me and Naruto in this confined space._

"Neji, let's prove him right." Neji didn't need to turn to see the fire in Naruto's eyes. He was about to give it his all. _Naruto's right. I'm not going to give up and hope to be rescued. Even if it's one in a million, I'm going to give it my all for you Hinata._

Chaos exploded within the mirrored prison. A dozen or more shadow clones appeared and both Naruto and Neji made for the mirrors to try and smash them out, or at least slip by. Hinata had been watching it all from Tazuna's side with her gifted eyes, and something in her snapped when she read Haku and Naruto's lips and realized her comrades were fighting for her.

"Sorry Tazuna, I need to protect them too." Tazuna, unable to see any of the fighting going on, just nodded at her. "Do whatever you have to." With that, Hinata shifted her last scraps of attention from Kakashi and Zabuza's battle and poured every ounce of focus into the distant mirrors.

Hinata pulled out a new kind of smoke bomb she had bought in town earlier that week and launched it with a shot of wind all the way over and into the mirrors. It arced deeply enough to smash into the bridge, it's metal barbs securing it in place as inky black smoke shot out of it, fighting it's way up through the mist and the lighter smoke of all 20 of Naruto's shattered clones. For all their efforts, Naruto and Neji had been forced right back to back in the middle of the mirrors once more. Now with all the smoke, Neji and Hinata were the only ones who could see anything inside the mirrors. Which now held only one image, unable to reflect anything in the complete absence of light. Realizing the pointlessness of staying in the mirrors and waiting for the smoke to clear, Haku dropped out of the mirror he was in right next to Neji.

If not for that, he would have surely died.

Within the time between when Haku fell from the mirror and his feet touched the ground, Hinata's attack had begun and finished.

/ Two days ago. / "I see why you're having difficulty with that technique Hinata, achieving that level of control and power is extremely ambitious. Even I would take a year or two to perfect a jutsu like that probably." (Actually, it'd probably be a dozen years since Kakashi was awful at inventing jutsu's)

Hinata sighed at the discouraging words. "What do you suggest for me then?"

"Just give up on it. It's way too difficult."

"Gffstpts-" Hinata choked on the tea she'd been sipping. Luckily she didn't gulp it down like the boys usually did or she would have been badly burned.

"I can't just give up on it because it's difficult! I already invested a lot of time, I'm sure if I can just figure out-

"But that's the problem. What good is a technique that is so hard to even learn well enough for a mediocre use? Great techniques aren't made by imagining what you want to accomplish and then wrestling the chakra until it does it for you, they're made by realizing how to best use what you can already do. You shouldn't spend such an enormous amount of time trying to make this technique usable, when you can just change the technique into a version you can easily master. After all, a mastered B rank technique is far more useful than an A rank you can barely pull off with a ton of drawbacks."

/At the bridge again. /

Hinata had taken the advice to heart and altered her method considerably. And now for the first time, she put it to use. Dumping all her chakra into it, she gathered all the air and mist within a 50 foot radius, compressing it so fast that it was followed by a thunderclap as more air rushed in to equalize the pressure. Her ears hurt horribly and she couldn't hear a thing any more, and the mist around her was pretty much non existent now. But that didn't matter. Only her target mattered. The concentrated tunnel of air and chakra bored it's way towards Neji's prison in less than a second. At about 50 feet away, about half of it's mass dispersed into eight smaller shots that arced away and blasted through two mirrors each. The slower main bulk of air then wound itself ever tighter while increasing speed. Having diminished from it's original 2 inch diameter to a twisting needle as long as an arm and no thicker than a pencil, traveling 4 times faster than when it started, it tore right through Haku's left thigh and within an inch of Neji's shoulder.

To the vision of the Byakugan, silver beams could be seen hanging within the black cloud for a moment, but Neji wasn't about to admire them. He had a target. A target that could do nothing but fall right in front of him. A target that would have a wounded leg before it even reached the ground. With but one possible path to take, Haku fell right into Neji's Hakke. His legs were useless before he even had ground to push at. And without his legs, Haku's arms were sitting ducks to Neji's strikes. Neji had done 16 strikes before Haku touched ground, 32 before he finished collapsing. And the rest were done before Haku could draw the breath that had been knocked out of him from his landing. It wasn't perfect, and it had been on a pitifully easy target, but Neji had just pulled off one of the most devastating techniques ever devised by the Hyuuga. Haku was completely helpless.

Unfortunately, so was Hinata and Naruto. Within the last few seconds, both of them had performed techniques draining more chakra than most genin could use in an entire battle. Even if they had more left, the strain of having channeled so much at once left them as feeble as can be. Neji wasn't much better off. He'd been expending a lot of energy protecting Naruto from the needles the entire time, and had been filled with his fair share, especially during the mad dash for the edges at the end. Moving so much with all those needles in him to perform his finishing technique left him feeling like a leaf caught in a mortar and pestle. Everything rested on Kakashi now.


End file.
